Jesus, what a film.
It has been a long-time since I have felt this way about a movie. While the credits rolled down the black screen of my hometown theatre, I sat in awe, tears in eyes, ready to clap. (I never clap, for the record)
I went to see this with my parents, thinking it was just going to be another war film. (obviously war movies aren’t exactly family movies, but you know–we’re not perfect–alright,) I have heard for the past month that this is a must-see, and now I understand why.
To begin this post, I must say, the Oscar for cinematography that was given to this movie was beyond justifiable. Every scene in this film came alive in a way that I cannot really put into words. The pseudo-One-shot creates this immersion, in some scenes, 1917 stops feeling like a cinematic, and more like a documentary instead.
What really jumped out to me regarding the camerawork was just how lenient it was. I remember a scene in which the main characters were squeezing through a crowd of troops while in a tight part of the trenches, the camera loosely hung overhead as we saw our protagonists get lost in a crowd of soldiers. It almost began to look like a World War 1 version of Where’s Waldo.
On the topic of this being a war movie, the level of action (combat, shooting, explosions) is minimal, and here’s why that’s a good thing.
The action in this movie was raw. It was straight-up immersive. Every shot had its own unique and entertaining background, rather it be a burning building, or a rat climbing out of a dead man’s chest, there was something stimulating that made a scene feel real. How awesome is that, in the era in which Marvel movies act as rollercoasters, we finally got an epic Ferris wheel.
Now, let’s talk spoilers.
SPOILER:
- Let’s just bring up the fact that the death of our lead came about from a stabbing, done by a random character. If you’ve seen the movie, (which I hope you have since you’re reading this part) you might find it odd how this fatality was done in the background. Yes, the death of the MAIN character of this film happened in the background of a scene in which his friend was pumping dirty water out of a well.
- That ending was rough. As a man that has brothers, I could feel the pain when he received his brother’s dog tags. The acting was phenomenal, and as I was sitting there watching it, I could not help but think of how insane these times must have been. Imagine going to war in a country far away from yours, living in hellish conditions knowing that you are probably going to die. This was touched on in the truck scene, I recall a soldier bringing up the “why are we even here” point, but God, what a terrible time 100 years-ago was.
Favorite Scene: Officers blowing their whistles, soldiers storming out, an insane charge.
Only Gripe: There is no way either man survives that bunker blowing up. If they did survive, they would definitely suffer extreme trauma. (missing limb, broken bones?) This man was buried under bricks, how on earth did he sprint a few hours later?
Chris Di Mieri 