“There is only one way this war ends. Last man standing.”
Colonel MacKenzie – Benedict CumberbatchÂ
Sam Mendes’ 1917 is an aquired taste, those who enjoyed it, loved it. Those who did not enjoy it simply remarked ‘it is not my type of film’. It was superb. Fully deserved of the numerous awards, nominations, and general plaudits it has received. Visually, it is a stunner. Audibly it is gripping. The stroyline is a little ridiculous at times but hey, it’s the movies. The script is decent enough- it was never going to be a film remembered for its use of words. The acting takes a refreshing step away from the regular stella cast lists (despite the pinching of two rather central figures from ‘Game of Thrones’) shunning them to a handful of wonderful cameos from Colin Firth, Andrew Scott, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Rob Stark *cough* I mean Richard Madden. The film instead showcases some promising British talent in the form of Dean-Charles Chapman (GoT’s Tommen Baratheon) who plays Lance Corporal Blake and George Mackay, playing Lance Corporal Schofield (for those who watched the rubbish adaptation of ‘The Thief Lord’, he’s the one with the funny teeth). The production design is simply amazing- sets, costumes, makeup, all fantastic. Overall, it’s a really really good film.
If you weren’t aware by now, and to be honest it’s about the only chatter anyone can appear to make about this picture, 1917 is filmed in a ‘one-shot’ format. The technique, emplored throughout the movie, gave a real sense of involvement for the viewer, sucking you in and making you feel a part of WWI France rather than the slightly uncomfortable, and worryingly squidgy cinema seat you’re actually sat in. Having said that, I did catch myself throughout the rather uninteresting first 15 minutes trying to spot all the cleverly stitched togther edit points, although that quickly stopped after I nearly leaped into the next row after the first explosion. After settling into the film, the single-take leads you through the narrative quite nicely in the journey-like fashion Mendes intended – where the actors go, you go. I, however, felt myself itcing for any kind of edit point. Particuarly in the dialogue scenes, I found it infuriating that the camera lingered that 5 seconds too long at each angle; in the action sequences it worked a treat, the tension it builds throughout is invigorating. Looking back at the whole ‘one-shot’ palaver, I certainly prefer the intermitent use of the style, such as the beautiful beach sequence in ‘Atonement’, paired with the more traditional face-to-face cutting of every other movie. Moving on from 1917’s USP, the rest of the visual apects are bang on. Deakins’ use of light in the night seuqences are clever, and through the day little more was needed than a few weeks of cloud- hardly an issue in the UK. The accompanying score and sound are also bang on (excuse the pun), need I say more.
As I said earlier, the prodcution design is fabulous. The months spent rehearsing in an open field, the models used to see how light would cast over an abandoned town (and then the actual making of such a place), the costumes and make-up, the use of the sets in order to make the one-shot move work, all absolutely phenomenal. On the latter point, my favourite scene was by far the hair-raising track through a small division of the ‘2nd’ (the soldiers Schofield and Blake are tasked with finding) while a young man sings to them. It’s about the first time in the film where the camera pans off one of the main characters and it is a bit of a tear jerker.
Perhaps the most dissapointing thing about 1917 is the storyline. Yes its a war story so they’re never fact-for-fact accurate, and yes the plot was devised from annectdotes, and yes it’s a film. But there are several irritating points I can’t not mention: I will try not to linger too heavily on each (obligatory *SPOILERS* notice). The first irritation comes in the awesome plane scene, which is correagraphed and shot superbly. Now, would a pilot, dazed and thankful to be alive really stab his saviour shortly after being pulled from a burning reckage? Bit ridiculous and a bit of a disappointing death. That paired with a bit of convenient placement of a pale of milk that will later be used to satsify a baby (incidently the lighting of that scene is beautiful), makes the scene a tad farcical. Perhaps the most frustrating part was the efforts of the German soldiers to do their best Stormtrooper impression and be completely and totally inadequate at shooting straight from 10 yards, and I don’t know about you but for a piece of paper to still be legeable or in tact at all after crawling through mud, being buried in a bunker, and swimming down a river is quite incredible, and totally ridiculous.
All in all, when you overlook the annoyances in the plot (honestly what film doesn’t have them, except maybe Shawshank…), it really is a cinematic triumph. Not the most re-watchable film ever made but certainly one of the most visually spectacular, moving, and well desgined films I’ve ever had the pleasure of viewing.
Awards
3 Oscars
Best Achievement in Cinematography
Best Achievement in Visual Effects
Best Achievement in Sound Mixing
2 Golden Globes
Best Motion Picture – Drama
Best Director – Motion Picture
7 BAFTAs
Best Director
Outstanding British Film of the Year
Best Film
Best Cinematography
Best Production Design
Best Sound
Best Achievement in Special Visual Effects
Ratings
Cinematography – 9/10
Storyline – 6/10
Editing – 9/10
Sound/Score – 9/10
Acting – 8/10
Overall – 9/10
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