By Vincent Abbatecola
Sam Mendes is a director who, despite having a filmmaking career that spans two decades, is still finding ways to evolve his talents and impress audiences. The first half of his career dealt with hard-hitting dramas, such as “American Beauty” and “Revolutionary Road,” while the second half showed him focusing on blockbuster fare with the previous two James Bond movies, “Skyfall” and “Spectre.”
He now takes another unforgettable step forward in his storytelling abilities with the World War I film, “1917,” and with strong performances and a gut-wrenching view of the horrors of the battlefield, this is a movie that goes far beyond its technical proficiency.
During World War I, two British soldiers, Lance Corporals Will Schofield (George MacKay) and Tom Blake (Dean-Charles Chapman) are in the trenches of northern France. The two are soon selected for a mission: to hand-deliver a message to the 2nd Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment to call off their attack on German forces and avoid running into an ambush.
MacKay and Chapman both deliver superb performances that show the indestructible friendship of two individuals who must depend on each other in order to survive the life-threatening conditions of no man’s land. Whether they’re formulating a plan or just exchanging stories, you’re moved by how much they care about one another and will do whatever they can to keep each other safe. They both do terrific work in blending their wartime experience and innocence of youth, showing you two people who represent a generation that had to grow up early and fight these horrific battles. When Will and Tom are out on no man’s land and beyond, all they have is each other, and the emotional depth that MacKay and Chapman put into their roles makes the on-screen connection between their characters an inspiring sight to see, giving us a sense of hope when everything else seems forlorn.
Although the screenplay by Mendes and Krysty Wilson-Cairns could be seen as thin, given that, at face value, you could say that it’s just about two soldiers trying to get from one point to another, I can assure you that it goes further than that. With the different locations that are presented and the many people with whom the two main characters come into contact, we’re given a detailed view of this World War I event. The story provides us with harrowing war sequences, sweat-inducing scenes of tension, and some wonderful human moments that dive into the emotional effects that the war has had on the main characters. Mendes and Wilson-Cairns write two characters about whom you care and make you fear for their safety when any moment can become their last.
Cinematographer Roger Deakins, a frequent collaborator of Mendes’, makes the film look as though it plays out over one continuous shot. Because of this, we experience the time-sensitive nature of the situation as we go through the film in real time. His camerawork carries us through the ravaged, desolate areas of France, showing us the devastation of the war.
To achieve this effect, Deakins uses long takes that are seamlessly stitched together by Lee Smith. Just as Smith was able to help create a gripping war movie with director Christopher Nolan’s “Dunkirk,” where he had to work with a story that jumped between three narratives, he puts his outstanding editing talents to great use when piecing together all of the shots of the film and making it look like a continuous flow of motion.
As a director, Mendes combines the amazingly choreographed camera movements and groups of extras as he crafts the smaller- and bigger-scale moments. With everything that he accomplishes throughout this movie, it’s clear that his experience with his two James Bond blockbusters helped him achieve the method in which he approaches this story. Just as he exemplified his talent for constructing long takes with many factors at play in the opening scene of “Spectre,” it’s amazing to see how far he has come in the four years since.
This is a movie that’s loaded with tense moments, and Mendes wrings you out like a washcloth as he gets all of the sweat out of you while you watch Will and Tom try to avoid danger at every turn. Whether it’s the you-won’t-breathe-until-it’s-over scene in an underground bunker or a run across a battlefield while trying to dodge enemy fire, Mendes uses all of his filmmaking capabilities to ensure that you feel the visceral nature of the events that are depicted. This is an immersive movie that places you deep in the harsh and oppressive conditions of war, giving you a sense of the danger that surrounds the main characters. And, when there are scenes that are accompanied by a masterful score from Thomas Newman, who’s another frequent collaborator of Mendes, that adds another aspect that helps in rooting you to your seat as your nervousness reaches critical levels. Even though this is a true story and you know what’s going to happen in the end, you’re still left reeling as you wait for Will and Tom to reach their destination because you’re not sure what’s going to happen during their journey in getting there.
Although the war genre has a ton of entries, Mendes has “1917” show you that there are still plenty of stories to tell to help show the bravery of those who made the ultimate sacrifice to push back the enemy forces. This movie has a personal angle because of Mendes’ grandfather, Alfred Mendes, fighting in World War I, and we see (Sam) Mendes’dedication to bringing this true story to life as a thank-you to those fought to keep the world safe, making it a guarantee that “1917” will rank among the best of cinematic memorials.