Work of art!

Rating: 10/10 (12 January 2020)

1917 is about two World War I soldiers (George MacKay and Dean-Charles Chapman) who are given a very important mission: travel across enemy territory and inform the leader of 1,600 of their brothers-in-arms that they're walking into a trap. This is an incredible piece of cinema!!!
This movie is really a ride with sort of a dreamlike feel to it as the characters are taken from one unpredictable situation to another unable to know if they'll encounter friend or foe.
Director Sam Mendes already showed in Skyfall that he commands an excellent visual style but this is a whole other level. The movie is filmed to give the illusion of one full tracking shot. Every moment the camera looks like it's following the characters. It is quite an achievement. Besides the tracking, the film also does a great job of deciding what elements of the scene to focus on.
The scenery in this is a thing of ethereal beauty. The characters travel through a constantly shifting landscape, from trenches to abandoned farms and so forth. Even the worse of environments look good. In my opinion, the war torn town at night scene is one of the best images in film history.
The one aspect that didn't always quite work for me was the music. Don't get me wrong. it's not bad. The issue is that the tracking shot gives a very natural, engrossing feel to what's going on. Suddenly, the music will boom loudly and take you out it.
Overall, I highly recommend this. This is a truly stunning flick.