Breath-taking and intimate slice of World War I

Rating: 10/10 (19 January 2020)

From the first trailer, 1917 mesmerized me in a way few movies have. My husband and I waited with almost comical anticipation to see this in the theater; both of us are lovers of history and find World War I to be terribly undervalued in modern media. After having just come back from the theater, I am left shaken and utterly moved by the experience.
1917 follows two British soldiers who must deliver a message by crossing perilous ground to save not only one of their brothers, but 1600 men walking into a trap while under the impression the war is nearly won. Never before have I seen a war movie so effectively grounded and clinging to the perspective of the leads; this first-person perspective delivers a brutal raw, gritty, personal feel that I wish more movies would emulate. This intimate perspective is aided by continuous shot film-making; while the movie is not, indeed, one shot, the majority of it certainly feels so, keeping us gripping on to the task at hand with merciless abandon as if the viewer is the one delivering the message. The majestic yet dark tone of war is consistent, gripping, and enthralling. Often we are taken through the post-apocalyptic feel of a ruined battlefield; the camera passes over masterfully placed corpses of both man and beast without much thought to linger, giving the lives lost just as much attention as the shells, shots, and foes that snuffed them out. It is utterly devastating and depressingly gorgeous, and that's not even touching upon the battlefield scenes at night, where the moving lights of flares and fire kiss the wasteland of mud and stone with such grace I was brought to tears.
As someone who rarely cries even when a person close to me has passed, I am somewhat embarrassed to say 1917 brought me to tears three times, unlike any movie which came before it. It's not an intentionally heartstrings-tugging movie; however, as a lover of history, this absolute love letter of a film filled me with such wonderment I was left feeling a sense of awe and overwhelming sympathy for the men who were once asked to do unspeakable crimes and heroic actions for their fellow men. The two leads here are interesting and likable, though they are just developed enough so that it feels like they could be anyone's child, lover, brother, or father. In this way, 1917 manages to be both deeply intimate and all-encompassing, succeeding at an immensely difficult task that few other war movies--if any--have accomplished before it.
Rarely have I watched a movie that has affected me to this extent. I will be thinking about 1917 and its lasting impact for years to come.