Movie Review: 1917

MOVIE REVIEW: AWARD WINNING DIRECTOR SAM MENDES DELIVERS A POWERFUL MOVIE IN “1917”

BY KRYSTA ESCOBAR

The Great War. The war to end all wars well so they said. The brutality in WWI was so unbearable that it is hard for today’s man to even picture trench warfare or putting your life on the line knowing that there is no real medical aid for you if you got wounded. We all learned about WWI in history class and the horrible ramifications of war. Men living in trenches with mud everywhere in such close quarters and possibly risking getting trench foot, a horrible disease that could lead to amputation if untreated.

First, I must say that this is not your typical war movie. It is fast-paced and your eyes will be guaranteed locked on the screen three minutes after the movie starts. Award-winning director Sam Mendes opened the movie with very appealing and calm video clips to the naked eye. The strategy was to draw in viewers.

1917 is about 2 soldiers, Schofield (George MacKay) and Blake (Dean-Charles Chapman), who are given orders to deliver a message and stop an attack which is now just a trap. They could potentially save 1,600 lives plus Blake’s brother. They are in a race against time and only have so little of it, but they must get the job done to save themselves and others.

The whole movie was supposed to look like it was “one-shot” or one huge scene. It was so easy on the eye and it flowed so perfectly. Mendes wanted this one-shot to look like a masterpiece. Throughout the movie, it looks like they only used one camera, but in actuality they used several. That’s how great the cinematography is throughout 1917. Academy award-winning cinematographer, Rodger Deakins fulfilled Mendes’s goal to make the movie look like a “masterpiece.”