What about the concept of "one-shot"?

Rating: 9/10 (2 February 2020)

First of all I want to give a lot of credits to one specific scene, the minutes before the populair running "shot" of Schofield; After Schofield finds the Devons, he and the Company start moving though the tenches to the front. This is where they enter the battlefield. Different Companies are waiting for their call to go, totally ready for their take off. Two soldiers hanging on the rope ladder against the trench, while all the others are waiting for the whistle. They were probably waiting for their last run ever, without even knowing that. Therefore, this scene gave me goosebumps for more than 2 minutes. Again, lots and lots of credits.
Despite I don't have many complaints about the movie, I think there is a lot to say about the "ons-shot" production.
Concerning the benefits; the technique applied on the movie is brilliant. Especially after watching "1917 Behind-the-scenes Extended Featurette on One Long Shot". This gives a good insight about the difficulties that the producers had to oversee.
Secondly, the one-shot element creates a total different content: two soldiers, one day, one mission. By doing it this way, you get to know Schofield and Blake completely different. This made the movie more simplistic and therefore maybe more realistic.
This simplicity, however, brings me to the contras. A logic consequence of using just one shot, is that you are bound to specific persons and areas. This directly leads to less depth in the story. And NO: I don't want more shootings, more battles or whatever. I just want to get to know the main characters a bit more. For example, Schofield met the French woman with the infant. One-shot movie making forces you to move on after just one tissue to stop the bleeding of your head. I think, however, including this kind of "emotional paternity" could be a perfect addition to this movie if it was more extended.
To conclude, 1917 creates a total different perspective of war. Instead of telling a broad story, this intriguing movie present just a day of to young soldiers forced to execute a specific mission. Therefore, the beauty is in its simplicity. But by doing so, depth of a story is hard to include. Fortunate I did not have to choose between them, but if I had to, I would say: you tell me!