1917 Film Review - Sam Mendes Directs A Desperate Game Of Life Across The No Man's Land Of WWI

Rating: 10/10 (18 January 2020)

The Battle of the Somme is long gone in the stark April sunshine of 1917, as Sam Mendes directs a desperate dash through No Man's Land, with the historic still images of the Western Front vividly brought to life. Colin Firth's General Erinmore has an urgent message to send to the Devonshire regiment further up the front line. Do Not Attack, he has seen aerial footage that shows they are walking into a trap. But the German have cut the telegraph wires, and the only way to get through to Écoust-Saint-Mein is on foot.
The orders are given to the boyish Dean-Charles Chapman's Lance Corporal Blake, and he picks George MacKay's Lance Corporal Schofield to accompany him. The Germans have retreated out of their trenches, and the path will be clear, but the two young soldiers are given hand grenades in their pack. Just in case! In The Lord of the Rings, Frodo and Sam's chances of reaching Mordor were slim. 1600 men's lives depend on Blake and Schofield's game of life to get the message through. But like our Hobbits, their chances are equally slim, and to add urgency to the journey, one of the soldiers due to go over the top is Blake's older brother. They have until dawn to stop the attack. And will have to cross No Man's Land in daylight.
As they force their way through the trench to the front line, the camera follows at their shoulders, Andrew Scott's Lieutenant thinks the journey it's madness. Fighting for every inch of the land and then to suddenly have the Germans pull back. But he 'blesses' the two soldiers with his whiskey, riffing on the 'Hot Priest', and tells them to send a flare up if they make it. Otherwise they'll try and pull them back when night falls!
Cutting the way through the hostile barbed wire, cinematographer Roger Deakins sweeps the camera across the stinking mud. But the landscape is silent as Blake and Schofield creep their way across. While the words of the WWI poets ring distantly in our ears. What tolling bells for those who die as cattle. Wilfred Owen's lament, past the bloated soldiers submerged in mud, past the horses unable to outrun the guns, past the ghosts of once trees. As clouds of flies fill the air and scurrying rats feast on the dead.
The action plays as a single shot of the day, immersing the viewers in the real time carnage of the story. The pock marked battlefield is the star, with Production Design by Dennis Gassner, as Blake and Schofield face the eerie horrors, and eventually tumble into the German trenches. These were well made for the men to dig in, but now empty save for a lovers photograph. But the Germans have not made their retreat easy, with leaps of faith in the pitch black booby trapped potential tomb. And a later aerial dogfight brings the fight to the ground, with an act of mercy that leads to catastrophic results. Sam Mendes isn't afraid to show the PTSD among the men, with George Mackay particularly good at looking shellshocked. I've followed his career since Sunshine On Leith, in that joyous musical he was happy! But here his face is perfect for misery.
But the message must get through, with the camaraderie along the way of those brave young men and boys going off to fight who knows where. Mark Strong almost unrecognisable, but full of support and help as his men are also headed towards the Devonshires, but must divert when a blown up bridge bars their vehicles route. A sniper taking shots halts the rhythm of the film, throwing us into darkness, until we stagger round for the final push. Écoust-Saint-Mein is within reach just downstream, but in a nightmare town Germans are blowing up the remains in their retreat. The camera following any way they can as we run to the river, bullets whizzing past while red flares half light the ruined town. And with dawn breaking the tension is relentless. In exhausted relief we hear the sound of silence and a lone singer. Jos Slovick and his soulful Wayfaring Stranger.
But it really is a final sprint to deliver the message, with Deakins incredible filming again and shells exploding over men just to our left, and the force knocking us down in those last moments of urgency to stop the whistles blowing.
Among the terrific ensemble cast were cameos including Daniel Mays, Richard Madden and Benedict Cumberbatch. No one stealing the limelight though, just getting on with the job in those precious hours, and hoping to live another day. Watching the film felt like a lifetime in the blink of an eye. All those lives that didn't grow old, and those that grew old far too early, but came home. Very poignant with a tight crew that deserve all the awards coming their way.