Review : 1917

I knew almost nothing about this movie when I went to see it, but I came out wanting more WWI movies. It's an absolutely superb piece of storytelling and filmmaking and deserves its three Oscars.

This is the movie Dunkirk wanted to be. In fact, everything Dunkirk does wrong, this film does right. And everything Dunkirk does right, this film does better. Dunkirk suffered partly from pointless non-linear storytelling but mainly from forgetting to show the epic scale of the unfolding disaster. No-one sane could accuse 1917 of either of these problems.

In fact, 1917 is just about the most linear film ever made. Cunningly shot and edited so as to appear as one* gigantic continuous takes, it sticks to the protagonists like glue. This in itself helps build the sort of unrelenting tension that Dunkirk did largely through music (which this film also excels at, with a fantastic score that's at times tense and othertimes dreamlike). You'd think this might only feel exhausting, but it doesn't : it feels immersive. I almost felt that we were being shown an edited version of a 360-degree video, and if the camera happened to pan around, it would see more of WWI going on in every direction.

* Okay, two, since there's a brief gap when a character falls unconscious.

As for epicness, 1917 spits in Dunkirk's eye. I don't just mean the action sequences or the battles, though those are undeniably spectacular : from the race through a near-obliterated city beautifully illuminated by almost strobe-like flares, to the thousands of luckless soldiers going over the top. Those are essential. But what really adds to the immersion is that it's epic in other ways, like the vast hellscape that is No Man's Land. I briefly wondered just how much of northern France the producers had turned into the sort of scene that inspired Tolkein's Mordor. When I say "hellscape," I'm not kidding - but neither do the artists ram the death and destruction and gore in your face - it's simply there, all around you, in a very matter-of-fact sort of way. This continuous, panoramic and obsessive attention to detail has paid off in spades.

Is it perfect ? Yes, or at least so close as makes no difference. While you can easily spot where the cuts happened if you like that sort of thing, you can only do so through commmon sense - e.g. if a truck comes between the viewpoint and the protagonists, that would be an obvious point to give the poor guys a break. At least, I presume they didn't actually film this in two hours... but they might as well have done. There are precisely zero points where the cut spoils any sense of continuity. Zero. If I was feeling uncharitable, I might say there was one scene where I found the appearance of some characters a bit off, like it wasn't obvious where they'd been hiding a few moments before.

But that's it. That's my only breath of criticism for the whole movie. In every single other way the movie is perfect. The characters are real, vividly realised and believable. Neither the action nor tension nor anything else are overdone : it's emotional without being manipulative, and feels no need for any silly tricks to make you warm to characters before sending them to an unpleasant demise. Characters experience danger, risk, and suffer, without feeling like overblown superheroes. You might think, "gosh, he was luck to survive that !" but you never think, "he should be dead by now." In short, it's got realism absolutely nailed. 10/10 from me.