A Harrowing New Way to Experience The Horrors of War and the Thrills of Cinema.

Rating: 9/10 (13 January 2020)

I hate the word 'gimmick' as it relates to filmmaking. Gimmick is an unconstructive word, something that can be tossed off to cheapen actual visions. 1917 is no "gimmick movie". It's an experimental grand slam that takes a chance on a unique visual structure and successfully moves cinema into new directions. The conversation around Sam Mendes' World War One drama has inevitably revolved around its audacious, single-shot framework. That technical feat is worth discussing. But so is the film itself and the way Sam Mendes weaves both camera and story together into a brilliant tapestry of beauty in the most hellish war ever fought.
The bones of 1917 are familiar to those who have seen their share of war movies. It's World War One and there is a mission that has to be carried out. The British Army are preparing for an all out charge against the Germans. Little do they know, they are running into a trap. With communications down, two young soldiers, played by Dean-Charles Chapman and George MacKay, are dispatched into enemy lines to deliver the message to stand down. This type of story is not new territory for war movies. Saving Private Ryan chronicled a very similar mission, and Dunkirk involved similar themes of the affecting nature of battle. In the hands of a less capable, less creative director, 1917 might not do enough to separate itself from those towering films. That's where 1917's visual style comes into play. The movie is designed to look like one, continuous tracking shot. A gamble to be sure, but one that pays off.
Cinematographer Roger Deakin's camera is 1917's ace in the hand. It moves fluidly through each set piece, keeping the action clear, informing key moments, and only drawing attention to itself when it should, in the grand emotional climaxes that litter the trek. That said, there are certain things you can't do as well with the one-take approach. It's harder to get those iconic, stand out images when the camera is so often in the same position; following the protagonists from behind or back tracking in front of them. Mendes can't as easily put the camera in interesting positions or angles when the characters have to be in frame 99% of the time. But what that apparent disadvantage does, is make the few memorable images there are, such as a cherry blossom "snowfall" or a ruined town lit completely by flare light, more special because they seem to spring organically from the world. We don't have the expectation that we're going to see art, so when it's there, it stuns.
The real advantage of the camera is in how it intensifies the pressure of the mission. Being so intimate with the characters makes the explosive beats shockingly effective. I jumped out of my seat on more than one occasion. Also, the movie takes place in real time, making the major point of tension, the countdown to the dawn attack, all the more impactful. Here, the passage of time isn't imagined through age old editing tricks, it's really there. From the first five minutes, we get a refreshing sense that this movie is going to provide feelings unlike any other war film. You're locked into the mission immediately. The clock starts ticking and the movie never lets you out of its grip until the very end.
The reason this novel experimentation never wears thin is because underneath the visceral excitement it creates is a major emotional ride. Chapman and MacKay are a solid step above the average young British actor, exhibiting welcome restraint in moments that could slide into melodrama. Thomas Newman's rousing score does most of the heavy lifting in that department, but the balance never tips to schmaltz. That is due to an authenticity rivaling Saving Private Ryan, the best ever cinematic approximation of war. The ubiquitous little physical details in the trenches and on the battlegrounds seem to inspire the actors. No one player feels out of place. There is an overwhelming sensation that this is what The Great War was like. The relative attention to realism, combined with thunderous sound design and real time tension, make for incredible immersion.
To discuss this movie based on its cinematography alone, ignores how stunning the rest of the movie is, and the way every element works together. Forget the "gimmick" talk. 1917 is simply a brilliant, harrowing war film. The most unforgettable image, MacKay's character sprinting through the battlefield, with mortars exploding around him and hundreds of soldiers charging forward into certain death, is momentous not because of what the camera is doing, but because we were there with him in every moment leading up to it, and we feel its significance in the story. See 1917 for its exhilaration, its horror, and its beauty. There's no other film quite like it.
92/100