Breathtaking

Rating: 10/10 (4 January 2020)

I saw this movie yesterday and it is breathtaking. The camera work from 14 times Academy Award nominee cinematographer Rodger Deakins (Blade Runner 2049) is outstanding and yet reminds of Private Ryan it surpasses it without the gory details but still puts you on the edge of your seat. It is a movie that you can connect with either if you have been in the army or not because it is a movie for all. It is a message, it is a wake-up call for the atrocities of war, and this is a war that happens now, in front of your eyes. The camera is so strong that it has some kind of documental feel that evokes some frames of Peter Jackson's "They Shall Not Grow Old" from 2018 where he puts never-before-seen footage to commemorate the centennial of the end of the war.
Someone has said that that the war movies should not be glorified with a soundtrack but what a soundtrack this movie has! My ow my. I just want to mention one name here: Thomas Newman.
Another interesting fact. In this movie, you cannot feel the special effects. It is for the first time that I am not feeling tricked by any CGI or computer gimmicks. Whatever they used here they used it wisely without breaking the balance between cinema and documentary and the final result is mesmerizing. It a disorientating, captivating, .It was filmed and edited as if it was one long take and the camera never leaves our main protagonists, Blake (Dean-Charles Chapman) and Schofield (George MacKay), out of its sight. The plot is rather simple: you follow two young soldiers ordered to deliver a message which will save 1,600 other soldiers.
It is a second war movie from Sam Mendes after Jarhead and it deserves special recognition from the movie industry. It is a movie to be talked about in the future because of its authenticity and the special message that it contains