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A30 PEOPLE & ARTS
Friday 27 december 2019
A technical feat, ’1917′ is great storytelling, too

Associated Press “1917,” another of our most
It’s been a good time for talented directors, Sam
World War I buffs — espe- Mendes, has similarly tak-
cially if they’re also movie en top technology — and
buffs. A year ago direc- the best cinematography,
tor Peter Jackson applied courtesy of Roger Deak-
state-of-the-art technology ins — to give us a different,
to century-old war footage equally compelling look at
to bring the Great War alive that cruel war, through the
with sudden, stunning im- eyes of two ordinary sol-
mediacy in his documen- diers asked to perform an
tary “They Shall Not Grow extraordinary task.
Old.” The special sauce here,
And now, in the feature film which you may have heard

This image released by Universal Pictures shows George MacKay, center, in a scene from "1917,"
directed by Sam Mendes.
Associated Press

about: “1917” appears as if the idea that these were ion, waiting in the woods
it were shot in one seam- unremarkable, ordinary near the town of Ecoust.
less take — or two, if you men. The action begins in Their only supplies: maps,
include one spot where it the afternoon of April 6, torches, grenades, a little
seems clear a break prob- 1917, in northern France. food, and their kits — oh,
ably occurred. Actually, Schofield and Blake are and a flare pistol given to
there are dozens of cuts, resting under a tree when them by Lt. Leslie, com-
but they’re ingeniously hid- a commanding officer or- mander of the Yorks (a
den by editor Lee Smith, ders Blake to “pick a man wonderfully wry Andrew
and the longest continuous and bring your kit” — it’s Scott of “Fleabag,” pro-
shot is only about eight min- not clear why. Blake enlists viding a few seconds of
utes. Schofield, and the two men what passes for levity), who
Yes, it’s a dazzling techni- head to the trench. As they seems fairly sure the lads
cal feat. One could also walk, the camera gradu- won’t make it back alive.
consider it a gimmick, or at ally pans wider and we see As they climb out of the
least a method that threat- a field full of soldiers, more trenches and head into
ens to distract the viewer’s and more of them, resting, perilous territory — aban-
attention. But that ignores talking, doing their laundry. doned and desolate,
the fact that this very film- In the trench, General Er- piled with corpses of men
making style is also hugely inmore (Colin Firth, one of and horses — they get to
effective at delivering this several British stars, includ- know each other better.
particular story, in the most ing Benedict Cumber- Blake, the younger at 19,
visceral way possible. batch, Mark Strong and is chatty, humorous, good
It’s a tale — inspired by Richard Madden, who with maps and always at
stories Mendes heard from appear in brief cameos) the ready with an amusing
his own grandfather, who describes their mission. It’s anecdote. He’s also starry-
fought as a teenager — of immediately clear why eyed about battlefield glo-
two frightened young men, Blake was chosen. His older ry, and aspires to a medal.
utterly unprepared for brother is part of a battal- Schofield, a few years older
what they’re asked to do. ion planning to attack the with a bit more experience,
And really, who WAS pre- Germans, believed to be is less talkative, more stoic,
pared? These were boys. If retreating, the next morn- and also more cynical. He
in Jackson’s documentary ing. But the men — 1,600 of won a medal but traded it
the most sobering sight of them — are heading into for a bottle of French wine.
all was those frightened a trap, and will suffer cata- We travel with these two
faces, many belonging to strophic losses unless they young men as they tra-
teens who’d lied about can be stopped. The en- verse a hellish landscape,
their youth in order to enlist, emy has cut off all commu- sometimes stepping on
these shellshocked faces nications. “They have no bloated bodies or running
come alive here in the form idea what they’re in for,” into a sun-bleached skel-
of lance corporals Scho- says Erinmore, tersely. eton or burned corpse en-
field and Blake — George The mission: to venture out cased in barbed wire, with
MacKay and Dean-Charles into No Man’s Land and the camera usually follow-
Chapman, relative new- make the daunting journey ing just behind as we share
comers chosen to enforce on foot to warn the battal- this real-time adventure.q