Sam Mendes’ WWI Film Is a One-Shot Suspenseful Thrill Ride

9.5/10

World War I is a very uncommon movie topic. Sure, World War II has many films, many of which rank among the crowning achievements of cinema (Dunkirk, Fury, Inglorious Basterds, Saving Private Ryan, The Monuments Men, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, Tora! Tora! Tora!, Patton, Hacksaw Ridge, The Pianist, Casablanca, and Jojo Rabbit) while World War I only has a few films to its name, which aren’t nearly as talked about as the ones above (They Shall Not Grow Old, War Horse, The Red Baron, and Beneath Hill 60). But 1917 might resuscitate this near-dead topic. Directed by Sam Mendes, coming hot off of the last two James Bond movies, and starring George MacKay, Dean-Charles Chaplin, and Benedict Cumberbatch, this film deserves Best Picture. The film is about Lance Corporal Schofield and Lance Corporal Blake who, on April 6, 1917, must go behind enemy lines to get to the soldiers who are going to walk into a trap, and if they don’t get there in time, 1,600 men will die. Let’s start with the cinematography. The film is one of those one-shot movies, like Rope and Birdman, but this one is different. The cinematography is absolutely beautiful, like a scene where the soldier is walking through a burning town, and is lit only by the fire engulfing the area, and bullets sparking off of the gates. While Rope had many obvious scenes where the camera zoomed in on an actor’s back to stop the camera, there are only two clear instances in this film where I could notice that they could stop the camera. That’s it. In an almost two hour-long film, there were only two instances where I could notice that. It’s also, not even lying, the most suspenseful movie I’ve ever seen in my entire life, mainly because the actors see something before we do, since the camera is focused on them instead of the action, and slowly pans over so we can see what they see. This film does not pull any punches regarding the reality of war, such as a scene where one of them jumps into a crater and his arm goes into a dead soldier’s decaying stomach, and they are surrounded by bodies literally sinking into the ground. This film has amazing, loud sound which I highly suggest seeing in IMAX. It has many subtle Biblical allusions as well, such as hellfire, followed by a baptismal rebirth in a river. The trenches are so cramped in the film that you feel like you are truly in these trenches with these men, suffering like they are. Mendes dedicates this film to his grandfather, who he presumably heard these stories from. Overall, Sam Mendes’ film is, in my opinion, the best film of the year, and also a damn good war story as well.