1917 – A Masterpiece from Mendes

by Ray Keating

The Keating Files – January 17, 2020

Like many others, I assume, I was surprised when 1917 won for best drama motion picture, and Sam Mendes, who directed and co-wrote the film, earned the best director nod at the Golden Globes. 

It wasn’t anything against 1917 or Mendes, I simply hadn’t seen the movie, given it’s very limited release in December. For good measure, the competition was intense, including The Irishman being nominated for best drama, and the likes of Martin Scorsese, again for The Irishman, and Quentin Tarantino, for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, up for best director.

At the same time, though, there was buzz for 1917. So, I finally saw the movie this week.

If you’re looking for a sweeping tale of World War I – from the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austrian throne, to the subsequent series of events tied to obligations and alliances leading to war across Europe, to the brutality of battle due to advancements in weapons – well, this is not the film.

Or, because the film opens on April 6, 1917,  perhaps you expect a focus on the United States entering the war and playing the key role in its outcome. After all, largely in response to Germany’s unrestricted submarine attacks, as well as the attempt by Germany to engage Mexico as a combatant against the U.S., it was on April 6, 1917, that the U.S. Congress voted to enter the war. But, no, that’s not the case either.

Instead, 1917 focuses on two young British soldiers in northern France who are given a mission to deliver orders that will stop an attack that, if launched, would fall into a trap set by the Germans, and cost the lives of 1,600 British soldiers, including the brother of one of the two young men given the assignment. The story is fictional, but was inspired by the stories told to Mendes by his grandfather, Alfred Mendes, who fought in World War I.

The result is an intense, harrowing movie about the journey across enemy lines taken by these two men. It’s epic in its visuals, but deeply personal in its focus. It largely emphasizes courage and even compassion, but in no way avoids the horrors and fears of war. At times, there are striking contrasts between beauty and even sacredness of life, versus the grim destruction, waste and brutality of war.

The two leads in the film are compelling – Dean-Charles Chapman as Lance Corporal Tom Blake and George McKay as Lance Corporal Will Schofield. There also are able, albeit brief, moments offered by the supporting cast. Mark Strong, for example, stands out as a captain who offers sage advice and comes across as a steady leader.

Finally, Mendes manages to present the film as one long, continuous shot, with the camera simply following the two characters on this perilous journey. That view is broken only once in the film when a lead character is knocked unconscious. It’s a marvelous achievement in storytelling via film. 

Serving up any further details on the film would be a mistake, for it needs to be seen to be fully appreciated, and any kind of spoilers and added hints would do a disservice to what turns out to be an extraordinary movie experience. Go watch it, and see why Mendes not only deserved the Golden Globe for best director, but that he should likewise win the best directing Oscar at the upcoming Academy Awards. And I make this declaration while holding clear admiration for Scorsese’s direction of The Irishman and Tarantino’s work on Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. 

Indeed, it turned out that 2019 was a good year for filmmaking – to a significant degree thanks to 1917.

__________

Ray Keating is a columnist, a novelist (his latest novel is The Traitor: A Pastor Stephen Grant Novel, which is the 12^thbook in the series), an economist, a nonfiction author (among his recent works is Free Trade Rocks! 10 Points on International Trade Everyone Should Know), a podcaster, and an entrepreneur. The views expressed here are his own.