1917: Analysis

As the title suggests this isn't a review and will go into spoilers. If you've still not seen this film... do. It's a solid 9.5 from me, where it lost the last 0.5 points will become apparent throughout this analysis.

I could have done my usual review format for this film, where I try not to give too much away but I realised that to keep this even remotely spoiler free would mean talking about hardly anything at all, and that's just not fair! As most film students (and their friends and family) will confirm, when we see a film like this it's almost impossible to make us shut up about it so today I am going to take no steps to repress that urge and am going to take a deep dive into what could easily be the best film of the year.

1. Context and Narrative

The film is set (rather obviously I mean... it's in the title) during World War 1 in France. It follows two young soldiers Blake and Schofield as they are tasked to deliver a message to the 2nd Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment calling off an attack that could cost thousands of lives.

While the characters of Blake and Schofield are fictional the attack itself was real. German troops did retreat to the more easily defendable Hindenburg line during Operation Alberich. This was a tactical move for further offensive operations. One such operation was Operation Michael which saw the Germans break through the British line and farther west than they had been since 1914. There were multiple attacks to the Hindenburg line but it wasn't broken until 1918 in the Hundred Days Offensive.

Retiring to the Hindenburg line massively compromised German moral and the conditions they left French civilians in damaged their reputation in neutral countries.

However, as far as my research has told me, there were no messengers that would have taken the journey the heroes of 1917 take. Information about the Hindenburg line could have been delivered via aircraft pilots, telephones or even possibly by pigeon although that last one would not be very cinematic.

Not being 100% historically accurate is hardly a criticism of the film. Frankly we would have a very different film if accuracy was what Sam Mendes was going for. Having fictional characters in a plot based in truth allows for a much wider range of creativity and ideas that are expressed in the film.

I do think a bit of pre-knowledge is important though, especially when we get to the deep psychological stuff it's always good to understand that there is an element of truth here.

The idea for the film came from director Sam Mendes' grandfather, who told him stories about his time in the war after keeping silent about it for years. The story that stuck in his memory was about having to deliver a message. Mendes decided to place his grandfather's stories into the context of Operation Alberich, therefore the stakes are instantly raised, there are thousands of lives relying on this message.

The stakes are raised again when Blake is told his brother is in the 2nd Battalion. Therefore it's personal.

This is a very simple set up, established in the very beginning of the film by Colin Firth's character. It's such a simple set up the trailer basically tells you all you need to know. Two soldiers, deliver message, high stakes... On a basic level this can make a story that feels episodic, like a Lord of The Rings style narrative where the characters go from place to place and tackle a bigger challenge in each new location.

1917 uses this structure to its advantage. The simplicity of the story allows for an almost unrelenting stream of tension building and random chaos that submerges you into the madness of war without the audience ever losing sight of the characters main goal.

An example of this is killing off one of the two main characters 1 hour into the film.

2. Blake's Death Scene

Blake is a character that up to this point had been heralded as the main character. It's his brother in the battalion so this mission means more to him than it does for Schofield. While the two soldiers are friends there is a distance between them from their first moments on screen together, they seem to know very little about each other.

Blake and Schofield are binary opposites, Blake is young and lively, his spirits not yet crushed by the horrors of war and still deluded into a false sense of honor behind it. He seems transfixed on Schofield's medal and can't seem to understand why his friend would throw it away so cheaply. There is a naivete to his character, established again in the beginning when he wants to leave immediately for their mission while Schofield wants to take a more measured and planned approach. It's this naivete that ultimately ends up getting him killed.

Schofield who we follow throughout the film is a survivor of the Somme and seems older than his years. George MacKay was brilliantly cast as he has this haunted look about him. He sees no value in medals and was due to be sent back on leave. We know very little about him as he doesn't talk about his home life or family and there is nothing visible on his person to give clues to his existence outside war. Blake has rings on his fingers which indicates he comes from a wealthy background and further establishes him as a materialistic person, hence his fixation on medals.

Blake's death at the end of the first act came as a shock. After a German plane crashes nearby Blake decides to save the pilot from the fire only to be stabbed while Schofield gets water. We witness his death almost in real time, Blake becoming delusional with the blood loss, thinking that embers from the plane are gunshots. It's a gut wrenching moment partly because of how unexpected it is. You keep expecting him to get up, for them to be able to find aid. Conventionally a death like this would happen in act 3 when they are both so close to the end. The fact that he dies miles away from his destination is even more tragic.

Interestingly after his death Schofield decides to take his rings for his brother, leaving the photograph with him. This could be symbolic of him taking away his material possessions, his rings and metaphorically the medal he would have received, leaving him as what he is, another young victim of war. He puts the photograph by his heart, what he truly cared about.

3. Performances

There are a lot of incredibly talented actors in this film. George MacKay is definitely the most worthy of praise in my opinion. His performance is reserved and subtle. We don't know a lot about this character but we're behind him all the way. Him being a fairly up and coming actor also helped me to be fully immersed in his performance. Unfortunately I had problems with a few of the other greats working beside him.

There were times where this film felt like one of those kids maze puzzles but instead of Disney characters at the dead ends it's one of Britain's BAFTA winners. While I can not complain about the performances, they were all superb, the sheer amount of famous faces in this film did break the immersion for me at times, a bit like seeing Harry Styles in Dunkirk.

It didn't help that a lot of these actors seemed to have big reveals as-well. A deep, rumbling voice precedes the presence of Mark Strong and Benedict Cumberbatch even gets a dramatic turn to reveal his face like the audience are meant to clap. When Schofield asks Richard Madden if he's Blake's brother the answer is obviously yes, he's not hanging round the set to be an extra is he?

That being said after the initial where's wally moment these performances were very well delivered, especially Maddens at the end. When he hears about his brother's death you can see his grief in real time and it's heart wrenching. Scenes like that need that caliber of actor to pull them off. Colin Firth's character on the other hand and even Andrew Scotts could have been played by anyone and definitely counteracted the theme of the faceless soldier so wonderfully represented by Schofield. Some of these soldiers have pretty famous faces.

4. Cinematography

Roger Deakins is one of the most established cinematographers in modern cinema. For me most of the spectacle of this film comes from how it was lit. While a lot of the film was shot using natural light the most memorable moment comes during the night scene where Schofield runs through a town of ruins as flares go off up ahead. A lot of this sequence gave me horror film vibes.

The silhouettes against a sulfuric yellow haze as fires burn in the distance, create a deeply uncomfortable atmosphere and a constant sense of danger and the unknown. The flare sequence pushes on surrealism as the ground underneath Schofield seems to come alive, mirroring the dizziness of his head injury.

The camera movement throughout the film is very steady, a contrast to similar films like Saving Private Ryan. The film is also made to look like one continuous shot, a technique previously used by Birdman. This gives the actors performances an element of spontaneity. Like live theatre it gives the actors a chance to change their performance from scene to scene and truly react off each other.

There are plenty of videos on how the one shot effect was achieved so I won't reiterate that here. A detail I like though is that the camera never moves backwards. Sometimes it's facing backwards but it never retreats, just like the characters themselves can't go back.

The one take look is a very immersive style of filmmaking and brings you right into the moment with the characters. While I personally enjoyed this choice and thought it added to my engagement with the film, a criticism would be that the smoothness of the camera and cinematic look did at times make me feel like I was in a video game. The episodic narrative structure didn't help with this comparison.

There were two moments in the film where the cinematography used perspective very cleverly. The first time is just before Blake's death where the dog fight overhead is revealed to be a lot closer than the main characters think. The second time is during the scene in the ruins where Schofield can see a silhouetted man walking towards him. Neither he, nor the audience can tell how far away he is, or if he is English or German. When the man starts running towards Schofield he's much closer than he first appeared creating a terrifying moment of panic as he tries to run away.

This was probably achieved by using a wide lens which would make the man look further away than he was. I also think this example is used to mirror Schofields own grasp on reality after his head injury.

5. Significance and Impact

While some would argue with me I don't think 1917 is doing anything that hasn't been done before. It does however do everything it does extremely well. For me the sound and cinematography were what made watching this in the cinema such an experience. Do yourself a favour and watch this on the big screen, it's well worth the price of admission.

I truly believe that this will be a film still talked about in a decade from now, maybe even longer. A film that will probably make its way onto the A-level film studies syllabus as there is no shortage of detail to talk about. This post was going to be longer with more individual scene analysis before I realised how long it was!

1917 is a truly great film with stellar performances and an immersive experience which is well worthy of the praise it's received. The most beautiful thing about it is how the film book-ends itself, the opening shot mirroring the last, both of them moments of tranquility and peace. The meaning I take from this is that war is momentary, it's the memories of others that live on eternally. The tree Schofield sits by at the end of the film is symbolic of new life as he looks at pictures of his wife and daughters, the next generation he hopes will grow up in peace, his whole reason for being out there in the first place.

If you've made your way to the end of this post then thank you very much for reading and I'd love to hear your thoughts and opinions on this film. I was lucky enough to watch it with a big group of filmmaking students and the atmosphere made it one of my favourite cinema experiences of all time, just because of how buzzed everyone was at the end of the film.

Thanks to all you lot for an awesome time, I hope we do it again!