Immersive, haunting, and brilliantly made! [+80%]

Rating: 8/10 (14 March 2020)

1917 is a cinematic triumph in terms of its technicalities, the single-take storytelling style (like in a third-person shooter video-game), and the compelling tale it tells about war, survival, brotherhood, and compassion. Corporals Blake (Chapman) and Schofield (MacKay) are assigned the task of delivering an important, timebound message to another garrison - this story is essentially a race against time for these two young army men, and the camera follows them in real-time.
The film seems to have been written keeping this design in mind - it's more of an adventure thriller than a conventional war movie. Roger Deakins offers an immersive experience of the two corporals journeying through hell to save a troop from falling into a German trap. At times, it even becomes difficult to differentiate between real and dreamy - the sets have been marvellously put together, the flare-lit shots look brilliant, and the fluidic feel of the cinematography keeps viewers on the edge of their seats.
While it's easy to complain that character development is slightly lacking, there are solidly written scenes that give us insights into the (mindsets of the) protagonist duo - Blake's fellow feeling explained in the plane crash scene where he tries to help a German solider, Schofield's helplessness when he has to leave a woman with a baby behind, and the way both characters deal with pain and loss.
The little but significant cameos from Colin Firth, Mark Strong, and Benedict Cumberbatch add to the film's strengths. The musical score by Thomas Newman fully supplements Deakins' efforts. Mendes portrays the physicalities of war by holding nothing back - the dirt, the decaying bodies, the ramshackle cottages, and of course, bullets and shelling. I believe Mendes has used his stage directing skills to the fullest in 1917. With long takes and the humongous cast and crew working together in complete sync along the lines of ballet, 1917 is undoubtedly a tremendous effort.