1917 (Sam Mendes Film - Christmas 2019)

It's a cliffhanger. We don't find out who wins the war by the end of the movie?

 

Just seen it, absolutely brilliant.

Definitely will a Oscar, best film.

 

Just got back from seeing the film, but I'll address this first.

#1. these Germans had a crap job, as obviously they were placed in a forward position, almost sandwiched between two lines, thus why at least two of them were drunk.

#2. I can tell you from experience, even with an automatic weapon, it's not like the films where everyone's aim is true. It's damn difficult to hit a moving target. Add to it that it was dark, and that none of the weapons had flash suppressors back then, it would have been lucky if they had shot him. Remember, these were bolt-action rifles, too. You stop, chamber a round, then aim in the dark after your vision is screwed up from the last flash, and you'd be lucky to hit air. They certainly weren't expecting him.

If there's one thing that's a sure fire way to throw off you aim, it's pure adrenaline.

But those aren't spoilers. I'll add spoiler tags for my next run.

 

Can’t wait to get the blu ray.

There was some gasps from the cinema crowd watching the film. Riveting stuff!!!!

 

Okay, so like I said, I saw this film today with my son. There was both bad and good, but really the bad is minor quibbles, with the good far outweighing anything "bad." Frankly, I can't stop thinking about the film. And see, I didn't read much about it beforehand, and what little I was knew about the whole "one-shot" thing, I left it with a vague idea in my head, as I didn't want it to influence my viewing.

The bad? I already mentioned them having their bayonets fixed. Yeah, I still didn't like that. I found it unrealistic and as close as they were to one another I kept thinking they were going to poke themselves. I have their exact weapon in my home, a British SmLE Mk. 3*, dated 1916, because that's the type of weapon my great-grandfather used in the Great War. Boy, you put a bayonet on that thing and it'll really reach out and touch someone. So, during and after seeing the film,

Spoiler: fix bayonets

they should have went out in no-man's land without the bayonet fixed and then fixed it right before they entered the German trench. You'll not that after Beck was killed, William took his bayonet off, and it remained off the rest of the film. I mean, I guess it's possible that two Tommy's would have fixed bayonets before going out, but I've spoken to plenty of WWI vets who didn't care for the bayonet.

Also, regarding "Hollywood Handsome"

Spoiler: So pretty

I thought Beck was a little too pretty, while William looked more like a typical British male of the day, but also, when William met the young French woman in the basement, well of course she had to be attractive right? Uggghh. Only in Hollywood. That was a bummer, but again a minor quibble.

Otherwise, I found the rest to be very, very good. It was intense, it was shot beautifully, and it's certainly the closest that we've come to a realistic Great War film. I could go on and on about the attention to detail that was taken throughout. It all matched up really well. People have this image of WWI like it was all mud and rain, but you saw a lot of that chalky French soil in the film, as well. Once you got into the first British trench, just the mass of men, and then some parts of the trenches offered little protection at all. Most of the troops were also well equipped, as some of these battalions, regiments and divisions got better treatment than others. You could see the newer style brody helmets, where some of them had regimental embalms on the front. That was interesting. I could go on and on about the details that were spot on.

I'm not so sure about the couple of black Tommies in the film. I thought for certain that the British Army was segregated back then, too. If you were black and British, you would get dispatched to the middle eastern theater or serve in a labor battalion.

Spoiler: Sikh

And then there was the Sikh Tommy, who rode in the lories with the boys. That was odd, too, because even though they fought side-by-side with the white units, they have their own regiments. Perhaps he had become displaced. My great-grandfather remembered the the Gurkah soldiers and how they were much feared and respected.

@alexpop Yeah, I'm hoping this comes out on 4K. I don't have a 4K (or 8K) TV yet, but I have a shortlist of films that I want to purchase when I get one. This one and the remake of Suspira. Probably pretty soon.

 

Fair point. But as I said, these weren't the most experienced or well-trained men in the battalion.

Spoiler

As you said he was probably separated from his unit and wound up with an ad hoc group of soldiers. I have no doubt some very knowledgeable people are going to look at all the insignia of the different soldiers in the truck and figure out who belonged exactly where.

Quibbles aside, I'm very happy that you enjoyed this film. All these men, like your grandfather, deserved to be recognized for their service and sacrifice, and hopefully this film will accomplish that.

 

Actor George Mackay was also in a note worthy earlier WW1 film called Private Peaceful( 2012), worth checking out. I’m sure Sam Mendes seen it.

 

Interesting observations, thank you. My paternal grandfather and grand-uncle fought on the German side in World War I (in or close to the area depicted in the film). Everything I saw in the movie matches the stories they told about their experiences in the trenches and in no man's land. It was as if their stories suddenly came to life on the screen before my eyes. Deeply moving. I wish they could see this film.
P.S.: The use of fixed bayonets in no man's land (with close combat a constant threat) did not strike me as unusual. But, as you say, minor quibbles.

 

Answer#1: nobody
Answer #2...nuts, I had some great answers (Nazis with loot, Israel, Germany who we rebuilt, Japan who we rebuilt) then realized oops that's the wrong war

My grandfather entered Annapolis in 1917 while the war was going on. I wonder what he was thinking-did he think he would end up in the war? Or it was winding down? I'll never know I guess, RIP Grampa.

 

Saw this last night and enjoyed it. While watching, it occurred to me that BOTH my grandfathers were in this war, which sort of blows my mind. I’m 54, and one granddad was born in 1896 (died before my birth) and the other was born Dec 31, 1899. So, somewhat OT, but here are some real WWI soldiers...
Dad’s dad:

Mom’s dad (left) and the medal he got at the end of the war.

Closeup of other side of the medal:

 

Nice photos. I think I had a couple relatives who fought in WWI. I would have to pull out the family tree book that my brother wrote and published to make sure. I know for a fact, though, I had lots of relatives who fought in WWII.

Didn't realize that Rumania is an alternate (old?) spelling for Romania. Just looked it up to make sure.

 

Don't mention the war!

 

That was how I knew the spelling up to, maybe, the 80s or 90s. Might be an English thing?

 

I agree that this film is a technical marvel and sobering. I can see it being paired with "They Shall Not Grow Old", which I thought was great.

 

An excellent picture with a terrific central performance by George MacKay. I won’t be surprised if it picks up many Oscars, including best picture.

Btw, the movie actually includes dozens of cuts, with shots lasting anywhere from 39 seconds to 8-1/2 minutes. Incredible.

 

For those who might have missed the reference (and need a laugh):

 

I like well done 19th & 20th century war movies because, in part, my life was close enough to them through veterans that were still alive, as well as older aficianados who had even closer connections. I interviewed dozens of WW1 veterans many decades ago and collected uniforms, photographs, letters, gear, and so on from the war.

One premise thats a bit odd here is the notion that a mere 1600 men would have mattered to anyone in the command chain. Not that it never happened, but WW1, especially from the British POV, is noted as one of history's most callous, inertia seized refusals to learn from mistakes and to efficiently use resources - including its men - for fighting. From beginning to end, over 4 years span, tactics proven to be disastrous and doomed to failure were on a sort of auto-repeat....with expected results, because few dared to confront the system and the chain of command lest they be punished. Hundreds of the most experienced, awarded NCO's and soldiers were put up before firing squads when, after years of experiencing massive slaughter of the men under them, with no results, crumbled or questioned their superiors. Another point noted is that the story 'loosely' tracks Adolf Hitler's experiences in WW1 as a front line courier running messages. The thing about those tasked with delivering communiques is they got a very different view of the situation than the average soldier - who never left the company of their units.

 

There was a difference between the British Isles and the Empire, if you joined up in Britain you'd be treated like any other recruit and join the local battalion, the black population was relatively small, perhaps 10,000 people, mostly consisting of established communities in port cities, seamen and their families and people from the Caribbean and rest of the Empire who were often more middle class in Britain to study at university and train in careers that would enable them to take part in running their nations, you can likely add in some musicians, entertainers, sportsmen and others seeking better opportunities in Britain and possibly some mixed race children, but in 1914 the number of black men of military age resident in Britain would have been very small. Britain didn't introduce conscription until 1916, but there was likely little difference in the willingness of black men to volunteer, I don't know if anyone has done the research as to how many Black soldiers joined British regiments during the war, but based on the way Britain recruited geographically I imagine some regiments recruiting from Liverpool or Cardiff would have had a few black soldiers whilst Highland or Irish regiments would have had none so black soldiers may well have been clustered together in certain regiments or even battalions. In 1915 Britain created the British West Indies Regiment and Caribbean soldiers already serving in the British army were transferred to it, obviously this didn't mean that every black soldier was transferred so there were still black soldiers serving in the regiments they had joined, this regiment ended up in the Middle East theatre. Just to make things even more complicated there was also the existing West India Regiment formed during the late eighteenth century, they were sent to Africa and then the Middle East. There were also a lot of Africans recruited many for labouring, but unlike France Britain didn't use it's African troops on the Western Front, so to answer the question it's perfectly possible to have black Tommies in a British regiment though they would have been a rare sight especially after 1915.

 

Definitely win a Oscar for cinematography, best film.

 

So this has a lot of continuous shots like CHILDREN OF MEN? Those battle scenes were incredible. I was flummoxed how they managed such lengthy choreography.

 

Surprisingly, the battle scenes weren't the most problematic scenes. I read that Sam Mendes said the most troublesome scene was the scene with the cigarette-smoking Lieutenant played by Andrew Scott (the scene in the trenches before the 2 heroes go up and over into no man's land.) In real-life, Scott doesn't smoke nor ever used a lighter. He kept messing up trying to use the lighter to light his cigarette. The whole 7 or 8-minute shot sequence had to be redone over and over until he got it right.

 

Good point. In 1916, at the Battle of The Somme, the British High Command sent about 20,000 men charging over open ground into the mouths of German machine guns with predictably horrible results. One wonders if they ever heard of Pickett's Charge some 50 years before.

 

My buddy wants to bring his girl friend along to this film, but she has one condition. She wants to know in advance when the intestines are spilled so she can look away.
I'm not kidding. How bad is the gore? Can it be avoided? Is it even possible to censor oneself here?

 

I don't think its that bad. I mean, its war. There is killing. But its not Saving Private Ryan violence.

 

Good to know. Thanks EddieMan.