1917 (2019, R)

Coming to this one later into Oscar season, but not for any lack of interest. I knew I wanted to see this one, but when it came to hitting the theaters, I figured this film was a safer bet to stick around than some of the other ones that, as I correctly predicted, came and went briefly. But having now worked down my “theater queue,” as it were, I was free to grab a showing of 1917.

During World War I, two young lance-corporals, Blake and Schofield, are given a herculean task: travel on foot, on their own, through uncertain territory in a race against time to deliver a message warning another battalion to call off an attack that would send its men into an ambush. If they don’t make it in time, the British stand to lose 1,600 men, Blake’s older brother among them. The two soldiers set out across No Man’s Land and beyond, braving the devastation and desolation of the war to fulfill their mission and save Blake’s brother and his comrades.

The first thing that needs to be mentioned here is the film’s much-talked-about filming technique. The movie is shot as if it’s all one continuous tracking shot – it isn’t, but it’s filmed in such a way that the overwhelming majority of the cuts are disguised to seamlessly blend into one another. It’s a highly-impressive achievement, and I’ll be very surprised if Roger Deakins doesn’t take home the Oscar for Cinematography. The overall effect of this technique on the film itself is to make it feel more immersive, like you’re following along with these two soldiers on their dangerous mission. It’s especially effective in claustrophobic scenes like Blake and Schofield trying to get through a crush of soldiers going the opposite direction in a trench or exploring a cavern-like abandoned German dugout with only a few points of light to guide them.

This firmly establishes the movie as a “director’s film,” and Sam Mendes is likewise nominated for his work here. But the story and the acting more than keep up with its artistic and highly-technical filming hook. For me, the key to any war movie is making sure to distinguish the characters so they don’t all just blur together, and 1917 does that very well. We get to know quite a bit about Blake and Schofield just from what we see of their interactions in real time – the way each approaches dangers on their mission as well as the way that they banter in less suspenseful moments. Both Dean-Charles Chapman (best known as Tommen Baratheon, but I also enjoyed him on the last season of Into the Badlands) and George McKay (who I’ve really liked since Pride) turn in fine performances under what had to be the pretty intense pressure of the filming technique (because even though the film isn’t really one continuous shot, it’s still a bunch of really long takes strung together one after another.) Terrific British actors litter the minor roles, and while the nature of the story means that none of them are in the movie longer than five minutes, they all deliver. The film features the likes of two former Austen leading men – Colin Firth and Mark Strong – as well as both Sherlock Holmes (Benedict Cumberbatch) and Moriarty (Andrew Scott, who gives my favorite minor performance as a nihilistic lieutenant.)

The film is up for 10 Oscars in total. Besides Cinematography and Direction, it also received nominations for Best Picture, Original Screenplay, Hair and Makeup, Production Design, Visual Effects, Original Score, and both Sound Mixing and Sound Editing.

Warnings

Violence, language, drinking/smoking, and strong thematic elements.