255.
1917
8.5/10
This movie had seen to take an age to be released. I think I remember seeing a trailer for this back in August for the first time and it wasn't coming our way until January. There was never really a new trailer, but instead, the same one repeated for nearly 5 months of cinema-going. The good thing though, it never really got boring and instead just added as a type of count down to the release of a movie I would end up seeing twice. The first time visiting with my father and the second with a mate who is into the history of the Wars. Other than knowing the theme of the movie from the trailers, the main point I would be interested in is if they had truly made this movie look like it was two continuous shots. Let's go to war.
Our two main characters are Lance Corporal William Schofield, played by George MacKay and Lance Corporal Thomas Blake played by Dean-Charles Chapman.
They are called from their rest to meet with their General and we can already see how this movie is mostly going to be filmed in this clever style. We are constantly ahead of the lads, moving through the trenches and then, at a turn, we let them overtake and follow them into their meeting. The General, with a little role by Colin Firth, lets the Lance Corporals into some intelligence. Their aerial recon has shown that the Germans are pushing back but for a reason. There is a trap lying in wait for the British and with the telephone lines being cut, these two young soldiers are the ones to deliver the warning and message to pull back. The reason Thomas Blake was chosen was that his brother is one of the 1,600 lives at risk. He then proceeded to chose William to come to the meeting with him. We see them make their way through no man's land, some booby-trapped abandoned trenches, which nearly kills Schofield until Blake saves him from the rubble and finally make their way to an abandoned farmhouse. In the distance, they notice a 'dogfight' in the sky and a German is shot down, landing right on top of them and as he burns, they try to save him, Schofield runs off for water and leaves Blake calming the German down.
In the last stand, the German stabs Blake and gets shot by Schofield. Blake is left bleeding out in a scared state as Schofield has to take his map and once Blake dies, Scholfield takes his rings and any other family belongings before sitting back to soak it in. In the background, we see some soldiers walking around and I'm already thinking the worst. Turns out it's some more Brits, lead by Mark Strong's character and with the promise made by Schofield to Blake that he would carry on with the mission, this unit will give him a lift as far as they can.
They are called from their rest to meet with their General and we can already see how this movie is mostly going to be filmed in this clever style. We are constantly ahead of the lads, moving through the trenches and then, at a turn, we let them overtake and follow them into their meeting. The General, with a little role by Colin Firth, lets the Lance Corporals into some intelligence. Their aerial recon has shown that the Germans are pushing back but for a reason. There is a trap lying in wait for the British and with the telephone lines being cut, these two young soldiers are the ones to deliver the warning and message to pull back. The reason Thomas Blake was chosen was that his brother is one of the 1,600 lives at risk. He then proceeded to chose William to come to the meeting with him. We see them make their way through no man's land, some booby-trapped abandoned trenches, which nearly kills Schofield until Blake saves him from the rubble and finally make their way to an abandoned farmhouse. In the distance, they notice a 'dogfight' in the sky and a German is shot down, landing right on top of them and as he burns, they try to save him, Schofield runs off for water and leaves Blake calming the German down.
In the last stand, the German stabs Blake and gets shot by Schofield. Blake is left bleeding out in a scared state as Schofield has to take his map and once Blake dies, Scholfield takes his rings and any other family belongings before sitting back to soak it in. In the background, we see some soldiers walking around and I'm already thinking the worst. Turns out it's some more Brits, lead by Mark Strong's character and with the promise made by Schofield to Blake that he would carry on with the mission, this unit will give him a lift as far as they can.
We get to a bombed bridge and Schofield must go on alone, tackled with a sniper, he manages to get the kill but again the last stand leaves the sniper shooting Schofield in the helmet and sending him back down the stairs and knocking him out. This gives us our first significant cut in the movie as the timelapse means that Schofield awakens in the middle of the night, as gunfight lights up the nearby town. Encountering Germans, he runs and hides in a basement where he finds a young French female, who herself has found a baby and is looking after it. She is worried at first but then tends to his wounds before its time once again for him to leave. Bumping into some drunk Germans, he kills one and runs from the many others, jumping a bridge and following the river like Frenchie advised. This lad is on his last legs and now he's floating down a river holding onto some driftwood and trying to stay awake so he doesn't bob under the water. Hitting the dam full of dead bodies, he climbs them to the bank and finds a gang of soldiers sitting in the forest, listen to a fellow soldier singing before they head to the front line. They notice that Schofield isn't part of their troop, notice that he is soaking and in his few words left to him, he tells them that he is looking for D company and once he knows that he has found them, he is once again full of life. Racing to find Mckenzie, he hits the front line trenches but can't get past due to the overcrowding. As the waves are waiting to go over the top, Scholfield knows he must do this and run across the front of the trenches and jump back down nearer to where Mckenzie would be stationed.
Bombs going off, bullets flying, soldiers falling and Schofield finally makes it down, wrestling his way past other soldiers who don't want him entering the tent. MacKenzie is played by Benedict Cumberbatch and he isn't one to listen, which the lads were warned about at the start but he does take heed, stops the attacks and tells Schofield to f**k off for his troubles. Schofield is thanked by another superior and is told to go and have his wounds seen too at the hospital tents.
All that remains on Schofield's mind is to find his downed friend's brother. Joseph was in the first wave meaning that there is a good chance that he is either dead or lying in one of the beds in the hospital tent. Schofield doesn't give out hope and after searching, he hears a familiar accent and he heads over to investigate. Finding a fella helping out the wounded, it's still clear he's been in a fight but it's Joseph. Obviously upset at hearing the news about his brother, he thanks Schofield for being there with him and he is given his brother's rings and dog tags before heading off for some much needed and deserved rest next to a tree, pretty much mirroring the tree the lads were lying next to at the start of the movie. Now he doesn't have his friend but he's now looking at some pictures of his wife and kids. The movie actually finishes with some text from Sam Mendes, the director, stating that the story came from a relative who was in the trenches.
Bombs going off, bullets flying, soldiers falling and Schofield finally makes it down, wrestling his way past other soldiers who don't want him entering the tent. MacKenzie is played by Benedict Cumberbatch and he isn't one to listen, which the lads were warned about at the start but he does take heed, stops the attacks and tells Schofield to f**k off for his troubles. Schofield is thanked by another superior and is told to go and have his wounds seen too at the hospital tents.
All that remains on Schofield's mind is to find his downed friend's brother. Joseph was in the first wave meaning that there is a good chance that he is either dead or lying in one of the beds in the hospital tent. Schofield doesn't give out hope and after searching, he hears a familiar accent and he heads over to investigate. Finding a fella helping out the wounded, it's still clear he's been in a fight but it's Joseph. Obviously upset at hearing the news about his brother, he thanks Schofield for being there with him and he is given his brother's rings and dog tags before heading off for some much needed and deserved rest next to a tree, pretty much mirroring the tree the lads were lying next to at the start of the movie. Now he doesn't have his friend but he's now looking at some pictures of his wife and kids. The movie actually finishes with some text from Sam Mendes, the director, stating that the story came from a relative who was in the trenches.
Twice I visited the cinema for this movie and twice I extremely enjoyed it. The cinematography was unlike a movie I had seen before. The second viewing allowed me to take a closer look at this and try to spot the moments that they actually would cut each scene. Every now and again the characters would walk behind a tree, through an archway and so on, giving the chance for a scene to be carried on after a short break for the cast. With the illusion that this is still all in one/two long takes, it truly was remarkable. The imagery throughout the movie, at times was breathtaking. From the lads walking through no mans land as corpses of humans and horse lay side by side This took us on the journey with the soldiers and maybe it would be wrong to say that we experienced what they did but we certainly felt the suspense and wanted them to succeed. The storyline helped in every way with this. Not only did we have the action of the war, but we could also feel the sympathy shown when it came to the female hiding, the loss of a friend and even the frustration of not knowing whether Cumberbatch's character will actually stop the attack. A very strong mission gave a very gripping storyline.
Our two main characters bounced off each other pretty well. Schofield has already seen enough of the war and is forever going to be the pessimist about anything upcoming. Blake is the opposite, ready to take on any task thrown at him and especially more so when he knows it could mean the life of his brother. I had seen Mackay in The Secret of Marrowbone and this seemed to be the same characteristics to an extent. The grumpy and at times, protective type once put under pressure, can become a hero when needed. MacKay once again excels. Chapman, I had only witnessed in A Game of Thrones as Tommen, which he was pretty much a pushover for a pretty face and ended up ending his own life for trying to be too nice. Spoiler if you're never seen it. This guy kept going until his untimely end and played the role well, trying his best to lift the spirits of his compatriot and rubbed off on him so much that Schofield would go on to complete the mission, tell his brother and the write to Blake's mother regarding her son's heroics. Bravo. All of the other familiar faces came and went pretty quickly, which either giving orders, receiving them or helping where they could, we would quickly forget about the side characters and focus back on to the main pair, which then became a solo effort.
I think going in to the movie, we were always going to have that predictability, to an extent, of how the movie would end. The mission would be completed but it's the journey that we go through to get to the end which is were the surprises are stored. It may not be a movie for everyone and maybe is drawn towards the male crowd due to the amount of male characters but we need to realise that this has to be realistic. It can't be frowned upon for not involving more females as the audience wants the true facts, not something that is going to try and please the feminists out there.
I know that most movies based on wars have to have some truth behind them, which may be altered for the big screen or even the rumours that passed through the trenches at the time could have been a bad game of Chinese whispers but I doubt there was much missing from this one. I'm always one for something based on real events, but mostly the horror or supernatural rather than war movies. Recently and with the help of this installment, they have been brought to my attention a lot more. From watching Hacksaw Ridge, through to finally watching Saving Private Ryan, maybe it's about time I gave some others the attention they may deserve.
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