- Genre: War/Drama
- Duration: 1hr 59mins
- Directed by: Sam Mendes
- Starring: George Mackay (Schofield), Dean-Charles Chapman (Blake), Richard Madden (Lieutenant Joseph Blake), Colin Firth (General Erinmore), Mark Strong (Captain Smith), Andrew Scott (Lieutenant Leslie), Benedict Cumberbatch (Colonel Mackenzie).
- Background Score: Thomas Newman
- Cinematography: Roger Deakins
1917 is a war film
set up during the World War I, which revolves around the plot of how two young
British Soldiers, Schofield (George MacKay) and Blake (Dean-Charles Chapman), ventures
into the enemy territories with a message for their fellow troops to stop a
potentially catastrophic assault. The Germans’ had laid a trap by showing that
they are on the run by a “strategic withdrawal”. In fact they are lying behind
their new Hindenburg Line with huge artillery to stop the British planned push.
These two young soldiers must reach their fellow comrades and halt the attack,
a race against time and insurmountable odds.
Giving
attention to the details and fluid cinematography that shifts from every angle to
the other, the audiences are glued on the edge of their sit as the two soldiers
move from one hellish environment to the other breathlessly. The
cinematographer, Roger Deakins, effectively captures all the details of the
sense of anxiety and discovery as our heroes’ move from one uncharted terrain
to another. Be it the tripwire triggered by the rat in the abandoned
underground German barrack, a distant dog-fight between two fighter planes that
turn into a personal horror very soon taking Blake’s life or the single gunshot
of the German sniper suddenly when there was silence and no one around is sure
to take the audiences by surprise and make the film’s theatrical impact very
legit.
It is the
low-key moments that are more likely to amaze the audiences. Mendes succeeds in
portraying the boyish face of this conflict, the young generation old or lost
before their time. This is evident from Mackay’s eyes constantly searching for hope in that exhausting environment. He even hands over his
canned food and milk that he had taken from the abandoned farmhouse to an infant
whom he comes across a basement along with a lady. The lady requests him to
stay back with them, but as soon as he hears the clock strike morning, his
sense of responsibility compels him to resume his venture to deliver the
message.
Another thing worth pointing is the presence of heavyweight names in the star cast by the names of Benedict Cumberbatch, Andrew Scott, Mark Strong and others, despite of not being the protagonist, did their very short roles with perfection. Throughout the venture the pulsating score of Thomas Newman intensifies the conditions of the no man’s land, the deserted trenches and farmhouse and bombing of churches and gives the film a complete theatrical presence of fear, anxiety, urgency and responsibility.
By Aniket Chakraborty
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