'1917' (2019)

Sam Mendes’ vision of world war 1, finally came to fruition late 2019 ready for the 2020 awards season and immediately became early 2020’s zeitgeist film. For a few weeks everybody was talking about ‘1917’, and deservedly so. The film follows two young soldiers fighting their way along the front lines in an effort to deliver a message to a battalion to prevent them falling into a deadly trap laid by the Germans.

The two leading roles of Lance Corporal Blake, played by the ‘unknown to me’, Dean-Charles Chapman and Lance Corporal Schofield played by George MacKay were the epitome of the scared but brave young men sent to the front during world war 1. These roles are obviously very well researched and wouldn’t appear amiss in a true-life documentary about world war one. Both of these young and somewhat inexperienced actors excellently pulled off the challenge of playing these characters, obviously completely understanding the roles they were each given. Their triumph over these roles should hopefully give these actors a good chance at being chosen again to lead more films with such in-depth characters. Some reviews chose character depth to be a weak point of the film however I cannot disagree more. These roles are brilliantly written and expertly brought to life.

By far the most outstanding part of this film is the cinematography and with the great Roger Deakins at the helm, I had no doubts this would be the case. From the pure aesthetic of the film to the lighting used to a huge advantage especially in ‘The Night Window’ scene. Furthermore Deakins' choice to create a ‘one shot’ film pulls you along on the arduous and non-stop journey of the two soldiers, immersing the viewers deeper into the minds of these men. This film does not stop for one second to let you breathe, everything Deakins does holds you completely to your seat. Personally I made a special effort to see the film in IMAX and although I believe the visuals this film delivers would be amazing on every screen, the IMAX experience was out of this world. The visuals are brought together brilliantly with Thomas Newman's absolute pleasure of a score. The score is a treat to listen to alone, as i had done before seeing the film and multiple times since. This perfectly tailored score creates a fantastic bundle together with Deakins’ visuals and Mendes’ direction to create a truly unforgettable cinema experience. It is clear that no aspect of this film was left out when it came to a very keen eye to the minutest of details.

The most controversial part of what is a fantastic film seems to be some perhaps slightly far-fetched plot details, namely an un-spoilt pail of milk in an abandoned farmhouse. For me none of these very minor details felt out of place and certainly didn’t affect any immersion, personally i feel they don’t affect the films quality at all. However it appears that for some viewers out there these tiny details are entirely immersion-breaking and experience-destroying. For these people I feel sorry that such a beautiful, awe-inspiring film can be ruined by something of such triviality. To me the story feels excellently put together and I feel that had I been told it was based on true events I would not question that for a second. The writing is a fantastic effort from Mendes and speaks volumes to his ability to write especially considering this is his writing debut.

For me this film wrapped up a truly amazing week in which I'd worked on a World War 1 short film. Everyone on set could not stop mentioning the very recently released film, so the hype was tangible. This can often lead to disappointment but ‘1917’ more than lives up to any hype it receives. This leaves ‘1917’ becoming my favourite film of 2019 and one of my favourite war films of all time. Although working together multiple times, Mendes and Deakins seem to have hit their stride with ‘Skyfall’ further cementing their professional relationship with ‘1917’. For me future team-ups between the pair will be ones to watch. With me personally struggling to find a reason for this film to not receive a perfect rating, I had to resort to scouring negative reviews to see if I could find fault with the film. I failed to find one reason that I find truly reflective of the film and as such I can't help to give this film a perfect score.

10/10