Sam Mendes’s 1917 and Philosophy
By: Aaron Meacham
Tags: Movies, Film, Existentialism, Philosophy, Culture

Nihilism: Can Anyone Truly Be Alone?

Throughout the majority of the film, Schofield is seldom by himself. After Blake’s death, he is almost immediately discovered by another regiment of British soldiers, whom he travels with until disembarking and engaging an unseen enemy, then several seen enemies, then a civilian, more enemies, and finally— after a brief, yet harrowing trip down a river “of the dead” — countless more British soldiers.

So is Schofield ever really travelling alone, as the general’s poem suggests?

Absolutely.

Just, maybe not in the sense it seems at first.

Mendes makes certain to document the various ways in which the horrors of war have affected the British troops, from Lieutenant Leslie’s gallows humor to the attempts at humor on the troop transport to the fatalism of the men in the 2nd Devons preparing their attack (as well as the “shellshock” expression on the officer in the trench) and ultimately, to Colonel Mackenzie’s (Benedict Cumberbatch) struggle for meaning.

What they all have in common — and what is ultimately separating them from one another — is the idea of death on their mind.

World War I has a particularly well-documented relationship with Nihilism. The disillusionment in Wilfred Owen’s Dulce et Decorum Est. Chuck Klosterman describes a correlation to the popularity of Moby Dick with the experiences of WWI sailors in his book But What If We’re Wrong. On their book tour for Turtles All the Way Down, Hank and John Green performed an audience sing-along about WWI soldiers in the trenches questioning their purpose. And 1917 demonstrates this sense of Nihilism throughout, though perhaps no more poignantly than with Blake’s death.

The death comes sudden and unexpected. Both protagonists have just avoided being killed by an enemy plane and have dragged the injured pilot from its flaming wreckage. In the brief lull, the audience might even be expected to applaud Blake’s decision to spare his enemy — until Blake’s screams of pain jolt us back to reality. We are faced with the meaninglessness of Blake’s death as well as the isolation that comes with it. Blake and Schofield are both afraid, and they are both afraid of Blake’s impending death, but in the Nihilist interpretation of the scene, they are not (and cannot be) afraid together. Blake fears for his own death, while Schofield fears for the death of his friend. In this moment, though Blake may well understand the fear for the death of a friend, Schofield cannot understand the fear for the death of himself. And while Schofield has demonstrated caution and an understanding of the dangers of war, he has never had to face the certainty that he will die, only that he might die. Though the two men are closer, physically, than they have ever been, they are also further apart than they could ever be in this moment.

And if the film wanted this Nihilist message to resonate with the audience, this scene would mark an excellent conclusion. Two strapping young men go off on a mission for King and Country, only to fail and suffer meaningless tragedy along the way.

The end.