Film
1917 (15)
Dir. Sam Mendes, UK, 2019, 117 mins. Cast. Dean Charles Chapman, Benedict Cumberbatch, George MacKay, Andrew Scott.
Hard-hitting, immersive, and an impressive technical achievement, 1917 captures the trench warfare of World War I with raw, startling immediacy. At the height of the First World War, two young British soldiers, Schofield and Blake are given a seemingly impossible mission. In a race against time, they must cross enemy territory and deliver a message that will stop a deadly attack on hundreds of soldiers, Blake's own brother among them. Playing out in (seemingly) one long take, 1917 is Mendes’s most purely ambitious and passionate picture. It’s bold, thrilling film-making.
Hard-hitting, immersive, and an impressive technical achievement, 1917 captures the trench warfare of World War I with raw, startling immediacy. At the height of the First World War, two young British soldiers, Schofield and Blake are given a seemingly impossible mission. In a race against time, they must cross enemy territory and deliver a message that will stop a deadly attack on hundreds of soldiers, Blake's own brother among them. Playing out in (seemingly) one long take, 1917 is Mendes’s most purely ambitious and passionate picture. It’s bold, thrilling film-making.