1917: duty, honor and despair

1917 came, in a way, to supply a shortage of films about the First World War, since the last primary production about the conflict was made in 1930 (All Quiet on the Western Front, by Lewis Milestone, filmed 12 years after the end of the war).

Therefore, the work of screenwriter and director Sam Mendes brings up a faithful report, as if it were a documentary, about a dividing line on the way nations face each other. Away from the technological apparatus of modern productions, 1917 still bears similarities to the barbarian wars.

Roger Deakins' cinematography in the form of a seemingly unique single-take puts the viewer within the scene, following the action with only a few steps, which has a distressing and sometimes asphyxiating effect. The feeling of walking inside the trenches is incomparable.

In an eschatological and desolate setting, a story of obedience, dedication, and perseverance is told. On April 16, 1917, two British battalions are about to fall into a trap that could result in the death of 1600 soldiers.

Allied aviation (which had not yet adapted weapons on board) carried out an aerial survey showing that the Germans simulated a retreat to ambush the British. Without being able to communicate about the trap, the Allied Command decides to send two cables to the so-called Nobody's Land.

One of them, Blake (Dean-Charles Chapman), is the brother of a lieutenant who is in one of the threatened battalions. The other, Schofield (George MacKay), is chosen by pure chance.

The duo's adventure takes place in real-time, among the friendly trenches, until it reaches the unknown dangers of No Man's Land. They proceed through an abandoned German underground bunker. Accidents happen between a scenario of horror and destruction.

As if to remind us that this is a war movie, and not just horror, shootings, persecutions, and stupid deaths occur. Gradually, tiredness gives way to despair, until we, side by side with the characters, begin to doubt the success of the mission.

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