THE 100 BEST WAR MOVIES: #100. 1917 (2019)

 

It has taken a lot longer than I planned, but I am finally ready to reveal my 100 Best War Movies list.  I have reviewed over 700 war movies since starting this blog on August 4, 2010.  My  list is not of the greatest war movies.  I do not take into consideration how important the movie was.  The list is of the best war movies.  My main focus was on plot, realism, and historical accuracy.  Combat, cinematography, sets, and score were also important.  These areas are the reason the list is skewed toward war movies from the last 50 years, because modern war movies can just do better in these areas.  Unfortunately, many of the classic war movies just cannot compete with modern productions.  The first movie on the list is an example of this.  It is a movie set in WWI and the trenches and no man’s land are the best ever filmed.  The movie has amazing cinematography.  After seeing so many war movies, some of the best have attributes that are outside the box. 

100.  1917 (2019)

                        Two British soldiers must deliver a message halting an attack that will be walking into an ambush.  The idea came from a story director Sam Mendes’ grandfather told him.  Mendes went on to co-write the story with Krysty Wilson-Cairns.  This is Mendes’ second war film after “Jarhead” in 2005.  He owes a lot to his cinematographer Roger Deakins.  This was their fourth collaboration.  Deakins is one of the premier cinematographers and this may be his masterpiece.  He won the Best Cinematography Oscar for “Bladerunner 2049” and has won four BAFTAs and has 14 Oscar nominations.  In 2011, the American Society of Cinematographers presented him a Lifetime Achievement Award.  “1917” was critically acclaimed.  It won Oscars for Cinematography (Deakins probably had the highest percentage of the votes for any winner in history), Sound Mixing, and Visual Effects.  It was nominated for Best Picture (losing to “Parasite”), Director, Original Score, Original Screenplay, Sound Editing, Production Design, and Makeup & Hairstyles. At the BAFTAs, it won for Best Film, Best British Film, Director, Cinematography, Sound, Production Design, and Special Visual Effects.  It won the Golden Globe for Best Drama.  The movie cost $100 million and made more than $350 million.   

                  The film opens on April 6, 1917. (I am not sure if it is a coincidence, but that is the day the U.S. declared war.)  We meet mates Blake (Dean-Charles Chapman) and Schofield (George MacKay) as they walk and talk their way to headquarters.  Thus begins the soon to be legendary continuous shots that will take us through the movie.  The general needs the duo to halt an attack scheduled for the next morning.  The Germans have withdrawn from their front-line trenches and the British plan to take advantage of this.  Unfortunately, intelligence discovers that it is a trap and two battalions of 1,600 men will be slaughtered if the attack takes place.  Blake and Schofield will have to make a trek through no man’s land to deliver the message.  As an incentive, Blake’s brother is in one of the doomed battalions.  At this point, the viewer needs to treat the movie like an odyssey.  Think Odysseus with his adventures.  None of that could have really happened, right?  Same with this movie.  They cross a no man’s land that checks all the boxes for the mise-en-scene -  dead horses (with flies, nice touch), dead body on the wire, rats eating dead bodies, destroyed tank, etc.  You do not want to see this movie in smell-o-vision.  Or right after eating. I counted 41 dead bodies in the movie. The odyssey includes stops in the deserted German front-line trench for a haunted house vibe, a deserted farmhouse for an encounter with a German fighter pilot (the only CGI), crossing a bridge under sniper fire, a chase scene in a German occupied village, and riding some rapids.  There’s even a siren’s song by a British soldier (“Poor Wayfaring Stranger”).  Only one of the buddies will make it.

 ACTING:                      B                     

ACTION:                      N/A                

ACCURACY:                 N/A    

PLOT:                            B                     

REALISM:                    C                     

CINEMATOGRAPY:   A+   outstanding! 

SCORE:                        A (nominated for an Academy Award)                   

 

BEST SCENE:  the Schofield Run

BEST QUOTE: “There’s only one way this war ends.  Last man standing.” 

(Lt. Col. MacKenzie) 

 

                        “1917” is a movie that can be nitpicked.  The sniper angles don’t match his position, for instance.  As in most episodic war movies, no one person could have had all these experiences.  Mendes is up front about his grandfather’s reminiscences being enhanced and the movie does not start with a claim that it is based on a true story, so you will enjoy it more if you just go with the flow (like Schofield in the river).  Try not to imagine what the front lines must look like to set up the scenario, you will get a headache.  The central premise is flawed as Operation Alberich (February-March, 1917) was a planned withdrawal to the Hindenburg Line, but did not involve a feint to draw Allied forces into an ambush.  Plus, the British advanced cautiously, and not beyond the vacated front-line trenches.  While it is likely none of the incidents happened as portrayed, none of them is unbelievable.  It is easy to overlook the implausibilities if you have an eye for brilliant cinematography.  Note the transitions from the camera following to camera leading the duo.  It is mesmerizing.  But not in an overly showy way.  Some viewers, who do not read up on movies before seeing them, may not even notice the continuous takes.  It is so seamless.  It is actually two takes, because when Schofield is wounded and blacks out, some time passes before the long shot continues.  It also marks a transition the surreal night in the village.   All of this builds to the “Schofield Run” scene where Schofield runs through a British advance.  500 extras were used.  George MacKay accidentally bumped into two of them.  It was left in the film. 

                  Non-cinephiles will probably notice the realistic sets and gruesome details of trench warfare.  The set designer deserves a lot of credit.  For the continuous take, it was necessary to have an extensive trench system.  Imagine “Paths of Glory” multiplied by ten.  No movie has depicted the trenches more accurately.  This includes the German trenches, which are shown as superior to the British ones.  You will also see the most realistic no man’s land on film.

                  Nothing can match the technical virtuosity of the movie.  The plot is molded to the perspective of just two men, and then one.  This limits the narrative.  It also limits informing the audience about soldier life and behavior.  There is a soldier banter scene in the back of the truck, but the movie is much stronger on the visuals of the war than on the men.  There is some exposition between the leads and some cursory character development.  We do know that Schofield is a decorated veteran of the Somme who regrets a trip home.  He is the cautious one whereas Blake has the motivation of saving his brother.  The actors are fine, if unspectacular in these roles.  There are some showy cameos by the likes of Colin Firth and Benedict Cumberbatch.  Mark Strong makes the best impression as a captain that Schofield encounters.  In the movie’s most insightful exchange, he tells Schofield to make sure there is an eyewitness to his delivering the order because some officers just want to fight.  Other than this spot on take on command decisions in the Great War, the movie is not a typical WWI hate-fest on the donkeys leading the lions.  This is not the Iliad, it is the Odyssey, after all.

                  While not in the top five WWI movies, “1917” is a worthy entry into a subgenre that has a high percentage of quality.  There is a much higher percentage of good WWI movies than the WWII equivalents.  Probably because the war itself lends itself to a purer anti-war feeling.  “1917” will not be remembered as a great anti-war film, but it is entertaining and more a tribute to the soldiers than any recent WWI movies.  It is certainly better than the new “All Quiet on the Western Front”.  You can not help but be moved as the cannon fodder listens to that haunting song before going over the top. 

GRADE  =  A