"1917" Review - Revolutionary Bloodshed

The best kind of horror comes from our past. Maybe not specifically our memories, but definitely the history that people lived through back over 100 years ago. You get to live that very horror again through the eyes of two soldiers in “1917”; a film which has a paper thin plot with the direction of an underrated as hell director.

This new war drama takes the viewer into a living WWI hell where two soldiers have to deliver a message across France to call off an attack that will save 1600 soldiers’ lives from being taken. It’s a simple task, but it allows us to be taken on a journey through the horrors of the First World War diving through blood, dead bodies, surprise attacks, and plenty of anxiety attacks. It’s certainly not a film one would watch over and over again. After all, I haven’t sat through an anxiety ridden war film that suspenseful since Dunkirk. However, it is easily something to marvel at through all different angles.

It’s honestly miraculous how this film got made. There are no huge actors in it other than Colin Firth and Benedict Cumberbatch, who are in the film for a total of 10 minutes, the sets and locations are beyond scope and beauty, and the whole movie is shot and edited as one giant take, something that hasn’t been done since Birdman. Well George MacKay and Dean-Charles Chapman steal the show through their gut-wrenching performances and the realism of the locations and lighting along with Thomas Newman’s haunting score take you to a fully different world that is not easy to replicate, let alone the time period of it all.

Half of the credit really does go to Sam Mendes of course for not only having the skills to make this epic, but for having the true stories of his grandfather to craft it all in one piece. The other half belongs to Roger Deakins. All of you who watch movies have no idea how lucky we are to live in a time with this man at the helm of the camera for some of the best movies to ever exist. Roger has done it all in his many years of being a DP, but I believe 1917 truly takes the cake. The way he was able to infuse perfect composition through the tight war torn shelters and barricades all while dealing with getting every bit of the actors emotions and the effects that would later be added is a marvel I still am speechless to put to words. He already has an Oscar for Blade Runner 2049, but I would be totally okay with him getting another for his masterful work. Deakins is the sole reason why I can appreciate cinema and the way it is handled sometimes, and for that he deserves all the awards he can get.

1917 is making its way up every top 10 list there is and it rightfully deserves to be. Not because it’s something audiences want, but rather something that audiences need. It’s a horror film filmed that will make you feel alive and filled with thrills and tears yet stacked with all the American Beauty (not ashamed of that joke) a filmmaking team can deliver.

Two Nebs Up!