There's no need to compliment Sam Mendes and his amazing cinematography. While he might be in the public consciousness mainly thanks to Skyfall and Spectre, in my mind, he's still the man who made history come alive as a present contemporary movie in American Beauty. In 1917, he again showcased his ability to compress small into big and vice versa, showing individuals' lives as a representation of the wider, bigger and the more unknown collective experience.
Also, as a clear work of passion, it is hard not to compare the film with Dunkirk, another unusual war movie from a brilliant director. Yet, while Nolan's work leaves that sense of trying to be something much grander while forcing itself to stay (not completely successfully) grounded in real people, 1917 is all about the people it features.
It is simply an experience for all of them, a terrible nightmare that keeps going even in daylight and one with little rhyme or reason. The story of two soldiers getting a mission of traversing the countryside and warning a friendly force not to enter an ambush is just a gateway to that particular episode in the nightmare.
The wider contexts, just like the continued shot technique it uses, is nothing that the film forces on its viewer. For example, the 1917 movie features black soldiers, soldiers from the British commonwealth including Indian recruits, but it also features women and children, and many other things that otherwise might have been a topic into itself. Here, however, they are just a fact of life in this perpetual nightmare that often seems like our world. It has grass and sky, trees and beautiful songs. Yet, it is nothing like any of our worlds unless it is also gripped by war.
1917 is a masterpiece of war cinema and one that manages to be one without even trying for that laurel. Yet, it is more than worthy of it by any measure.
Also, as a clear work of passion, it is hard not to compare the film with Dunkirk, another unusual war movie from a brilliant director. Yet, while Nolan's work leaves that sense of trying to be something much grander while forcing itself to stay (not completely successfully) grounded in real people, 1917 is all about the people it features.
It is simply an experience for all of them, a terrible nightmare that keeps going even in daylight and one with little rhyme or reason. The story of two soldiers getting a mission of traversing the countryside and warning a friendly force not to enter an ambush is just a gateway to that particular episode in the nightmare.
The wider contexts, just like the continued shot technique it uses, is nothing that the film forces on its viewer. For example, the 1917 movie features black soldiers, soldiers from the British commonwealth including Indian recruits, but it also features women and children, and many other things that otherwise might have been a topic into itself. Here, however, they are just a fact of life in this perpetual nightmare that often seems like our world. It has grass and sky, trees and beautiful songs. Yet, it is nothing like any of our worlds unless it is also gripped by war.
1917 is a masterpiece of war cinema and one that manages to be one without even trying for that laurel. Yet, it is more than worthy of it by any measure.
