Masterpiece

Rating: 9/10 (4 February 2020)

Considered one of the best films of 2019 and a serious Oscar contender, 1917 tells the story of two British soldiers in World War One who have to save 1,600 of their fellow soldiers by informing their commander of a German trap being laid for them. The stakes are raised by the fact that one of those 1,600 is the brother of one of the two messengers. 1917 is intense, tragic, and a pure adrenaline rush.
The thing that has garnered the most attention with this movie is the fact that it gives the illusion of being done in two takes and it looks like it is happening in real time. The result of this is perfect immersion. When you see from this camera's angle, it feels like you're really there and that you're going to deliver the message with them. It raises the tension greatly, in a movie that is tense by the nature of its premise. The cinematography, editing (how did it not get this Oscar nom?), design of sets and props, and sound are perfect. From a technical standpoint, it is quite possibly the best film of 2019.
Throughout the film, we see various aspects of the reality of WWI, and all of it seems very plausible in its presentation. We see life in the trenches at the beginning, a relatively calm place all things considered. We see the deathly hell of No Man's Land, complete with a plethora of partially decomposed corpses, humans and animals. We see what civilians had to go through in the scenes in Ecoust. We see a battle, but not exactly the heat of it. And it all ends calmly. All of these factors combine to make it seem very real. When you watch this movie, you feel like you are part of it. Director Sam Mendes has said that the inspiration for this movie was a story told by his grandfather about his experience in World War I. That being said, you can imagine this being an old man's story of war, how he and a dear friend went on a mission together, and it adds a layer of authenticity to it. 1917 is exhilarating, heart-wrenching, engaging. It is one of the best films of the decade and a worthy contender for Best Picture.