Film students' technical sampler

Rating: Null/10 (24 January 2020)

This movie offers superb demonstration of techniques in film-making: camera movement, light and shade, editing etc. However, attempts to compare it with "Saving Private Ryan" are shallow and hollow. While both depict the ordeal experienced by soldiers in war, "1917" is one-note, focusing on a single protagonist whose character is quite ordinary. "Private Ryan" offers a rich collection of various characters with depth. As to daring the audience with the raw brutality of war, "Private Ryan" needs no copycat. "1917" is not even trying to replicate "Private Ryan" as some shallow critics suggest. Compared with the agony of a dying young soldier caressing his own spilled guts weeping for mom, a few bleached corpses in "1917" look like Disney.
The story line is simple. The Germans have laid a trap to lure an Allie troop to mount an assault, when they will be massacred. Two soldiers are sent by a general to brave no man's land to give warning to the commander to avert disaster. One of them dies saving the life of the other. The survivor's Odyssey-like journey culminates in accomplishing the mission thereby saving the life of thousands of soldiers. The tragic ending note is his finding his deceased companion's brother (a member of the troop he just saved) and passing on the sad news.
Playing the lead protagonist, relatively unknown George MacKay has turned in a solid performance as the Lance Corporal who is charged with the mission. Of the stellarr cameos, three stand out in particular. Bookending the movie are Colin Firth as the General who dispatches the order to stand down and Benedict Cumberbatch as the Colonel receiving it. Richard Madden plays the Lieutenant, the brother of the deceased companion of the protagonist, in a most poignant scene at the very end of the movie.