Anthony's Film Review

This war movie is incredible for successfully achieving out a unique filmmaking feat...

I shall say it right now. The war movie 1917, directed by Sam Mendes (who also directed the James Bond movie Skyfall), is easily among the best war movies ever made. Think of your personal list of greatest war movies. I imagine that it includes films like Apocalypse Now, Saving Private Ryan, Black Hawk Down, and The Bridge on the River Kwai. Whatever your top picks are, I guarantee you that 1917 will be added to your list, too. This is a great movie for a rather interesting reason: the ability to pull the audience into a war setting, seemingly in real time.

Before I explain that, let me provide a quick plot rundown. This is a World War I drama centering on members of the British army. It takes place on April 6, 1917, as well as the day after. Two soldiers, Lance Corporal Schofield (George MacKay) and Lance Corporal Blake (Dean-Charles Chapman), are given an order to deliver a message to a unit already getting ready to attack. The message is an order for that unit to cancel the attack, because it turns out that they will be walking into a deadly trap by the Germans. The task sounds simple enough, but Schofield and Blake will have to cross a vast landscape and do so within a short amount of time. As stated by this film's tagline on the theatrical release poster, time is the enemy.

To accomplish their mission, the pair will have to contend with plenty of obstacles. Expect to see things like corpse-laden battlefields, German soldiers, a broken bridge, and barbed wire. Occasionally, other British troops appear as paths intersect. Besides the two main characters, there are also higher-ranking officers played by actors such as Colin Firth, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Mark Strong. So that's the plot summary. Now, I shall get into more of the technical side of the movie, because while the story and cast are great, the filmmaking technique alone already makes this a stellar movie.

You know how movies consist of multiple camera shots and separate scenes that are spliced together into the final film? Well, 1917 seems to defy all of that. This movie with a running time of roughly two hours consists of what looks like one continuous camera shot from beginning to end. The only moment of discontinuity occurs in the middle of the film when the screen goes black as one character is knocked unconscious for several hours, after which the shot continues following the time lapse. Otherwise, you are following the same principal characters constantly. It's hard to believe, but it's true. What's even harder to believe, however, is that from what I've read, the crew did not actually shoot the entire movie from beginning to end continuously nonstop. They did edit several shots together, but did it so seamlessly that it created the illusion of one continuous shot.

So me illustrate it for you. When the movie starts, Schofield and Blake wake up from a nap, then walk across a field and through a trench to meet with a superior officer and receive the order to deliver the message. The camera follows the two the entire way, even through the doorway to the enclosed space where their superior awaits. Then after that meeting, the two exit, while the camera moves through the doorway with them. And this constant following by the camera continues as Schofield and Blake begin their journey, and it continues like this all the way to the end of the journey (putting aside the blackout I mentioned above).

This visual technique has one great advantage over conventional films with separate discontinuous scenes. You get a great sense of following the main characters up close and in real time. This lets you feel the same anxiety of potential hidden threats up ahead and the terror of actually encountering life-and-death situations. In between threats, you can rest and catch your breath with them. And because it looks like there are no separate camera shots, you might even worry that the two main characters will experience fatigue because of the long distances covered on foot.

Even if this movie was still made with separate camera shots that are seamlessly spliced together, I imagine that this movie would still require a lot of planning. If you want to achieve visual continuity for the final film and do so efficiently, you probably would have to have all the sets, spread out across miles, ready for filming. You would also need all the cast and crew playing their parts in those sets ready to do so when the time comes. In other words, as the camera continuously follows the main characters, the actors, special effects technicians, and others have to begin doing their roles or get ready for them before the moving camera shows the set to be filmed. Just imagine all the communication and coordination that must occur when doing camera shots of long durations. Ultimately, film buffs who love to explore the making of movies will delight in the behind-the-scenes material for 1917.

If you have not watched 1917 yet and you love war movies, I seriously hope you check it out after reading the above. This is a movie that amazed me so much with its illusion of a one-shot film. I have never seen a movie quite like it. This is also a movie that is garnering many great reviews and awards. As of this writing, 1917 has been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture, and I am willing to predict that it will win that award. But even if it doesn't, it doesn't take away its value as an incredible war movie. It truly is outstanding.

Anthony's Rating:

For more information about 1917, visit the Internet Movie Database.