Year: 2019
Director: Sam Mendes
Country: US
Language: English
Eat your heart out Dunkirk! Sam Mendes 1917 is a force of cinema to be reckoned with. I particularly like how it's one of the only American Made World War Two films to show a non-white male on duty. Though brief, as in one scene, we see a Sihk soldier on the battlefield. Again, its a small cameo, but I love how representation mattered to Mendes and I hope that future war films show the diversity of our heroes who fought for our freedom.
As a regiment assembles to wage war deep in enemy territory, two soldiers (Dean Charles Chapman & George MacKay) are assigned to race against time and deliver a message that will stop 1,600 men from walking straight into a deadly trap.
Impossible to avoid comparisons to Stephen Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan, 1917 is similarly a journey that unfolds in an episodic fashion. Across a vast expanse of pummelled earth and ruined cities, the cinematography is captured by master cinemaographer Roger Deakins. Together Mendes and Deakins seek to show the film in one sustained long take, the purpose of which is to keep the audience engaged and not take a break from the harrowing reality unfolding in front of our eyes.
A film of grand technical achievement, it is remarkable to see Deakins' frame pass through an array of different light, from overcast skies to candlelit bunkers, portraying remarkable imagery in each shot. A pristine presentation; Deakins work is complimented by gorgeous set design, excquisite costuming and a foreboding omnipresent score by Thomas Newman.
If there is anything negative to say about 1917, it's that the technical achievement of the film may outweigh the emotional quality of it. Some audience memebers may be lost in trying to figure out where the cuts lay, rather than getting into the minds of our characters. I have little ill to say about this feature though; I would certainly watch it many times in the near future.
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