Debra Manskey

1917 (2019)

Written by Sam Mendes and Krysty Wilson-Cairns. Directed by Sam Mendes.

For the last six years I’ve been studying film analysis and two of my favourite books I picked up in first year were ‘Narration in the Fiction Film’ by David Bordwell and ‘Film Art: An Introduction‘ (now in its 11th edition) by Bordwell and Kristin Thompson. I dip into both regularly and they showed me how many seemingly innocuous things can add together to make a visual narrative bold, memorable and above all, meaningful to audiences.

I’ve just got home from a session of Sam Mendes’ new film and 1917 offers classic examples of what Bordwell and Thompson have been impressing upon undergraduate Screen Studies students for well over thirty years. I’m in no doubt why Mendes won Best Director and Best Motion Picture – Drama at the recent Golden Globes.

The story is very simple, loosely based on a story Mendes’ grandfather (the Trinidadian novelist and WWI veteran, Alfred H. Mendes) told about two Tommys with a message that had to get through to the front line in order to save the lives of 1600 men. The entire film follows this quest, giving the illusion of a two hour long single take. It is superbly shot by Roger Deakins, one of the best cinematographers around, and edited by Australian born Lee Smith – and this is extraordinary work.

It is spectacular and bold in so many ways but there is an immediacy about this kind of film making that tempers the spectacle. That is, we discover scenes and information at the same time the protagonists do – and we see the horrors they experience as well. And here, the horrors aren’t sugar coated or played down. Throughout, the tension is enhanced by a fine score from Thomas Newman, which didn’t detract at any point. There are a few jump scares that bought gasps from the audience at my well-attended Sunday screening and also moments of surreal imagery, particularly the eerie lighting of a bombed out town and a river strewn with cherry blossom.

Dean-Charles Chapman and George MacKay as Blake and Schofield respectively are memorable and well-played, and the supporting cast is superb, with Mark Strong a standout for me.

All in all, this is a film that does nothing to glorify war but throughout shows the suffering and futility. But perhaps it’s the movie we need right now in 2020.

1917 is currently playing at the State Cinema North Hobart, and is in wide release across Australia and other countries. Go and see it on the biggest screen you can.