In an ongoing series, Drew Trotter of the Consortium of Christian Study Centers is sharing his reflections on this year’s Academy Awards Best Picture Nominees. For the whole series, click here.
1917 (R, 119 mins.)
Director: Sam Mendes. Writer: Sam Mendes, Krysty Wilson-Cairns. Cast: Dean-Charles Chapman, Charles MacKay, Daniel Mays, Colin Firth, Mark Strong, Benedict Cumberbatch, Richard Madden.
Genre: Drama, War.
Plot Outline: Two young British soldiers during the First World War are given an impossible mission: deliver a message deep in enemy territory that will stop 1,600 men, and one of the soldiers’ brothers, from walking straight into a deadly trap.
–Summary based on IMDB Entry
Where to find it: Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, Google Play
1917 was the odds-on favorite this year to win the Academy Award for Best Picture that Parasite, the Korean thriller, of course won. If 1917 had won, though, it would have been for all the wrong reasons. Hollywood loves war pictures (though one of the biggest upsets in Oscar history was the loss of Saving Private Ryan to Shakespeare in Love in 1999), happy endings with tragedies in the middle, quests that are satisfied, and strong British films. This movie has all of those well-worn elements.
Of course, neither not winning, nor being filled with clichés, makes 1917 a bad movie, and it decidedly is not. Two great performances by relative unknowns, outstanding sets and the cinematography (Roger Deakins justly won the Academy Award for his work on this film) to go along with them, and a powerfully emotional story support this tale. It focuses on two lieutenants chosen for a dangerous mission across enemy lines to get a letter to British troops about to make a fatal attack into a trap set by the Germans. The quest is made personal by the knowledge that one of the soldiers will be rescuing his older brother, if he succeeds, though both these young men are so attractive as people that the viewer hardly needs any help rooting for them. Simple, enjoyable, yet very different from one another, Lance Corporals Blake and Schofield are played by Dean-Charles Chapman and Charles MacKay, respectively.
The signature device used by director Sam Mendes (American Beauty) in the movie is to have the camera follow the two men the entire time, as if the film were one, long, continuous hand-held shot. It is not, but it appears that way, and this can be distracting. Mendes—who also wrote the film—does enough with the plot, however, to make the movie proceed at a good pace, mixing events like the collapse of a tunnel and the death of one of the soldiers with contemplative dialogue by the two, walking along like two Joes.
1917 is emotionally very moving and avoided the kiss of death for melodramas: it never goes over-the-top. The single shot device with its hand-held “jitters” and eye level POV makes audience members feel as if they are really there, and the engagement factor might well have won it an Oscar. Great movies always have a great supporting cast; this movie had two little-knowns in almost every frame, but Mark Strong, Colin Firth, and Benedict Cumberbatch in minor, though significant, roles. Not too shabby.
One difficulty with the film is the thin plot, which has a few too many coincidences that are hard to swallow. No German in the film has even the faintest ability to shoot straight as Corporal Schofield (MacKay) is shot at repeatedly with none of those shots hitting the target. On the other hand, he is able to pop up and pick off a German sniper on the third shot. At one point, a soldier is floating downriver with no idea where he is and gets out at exactly the spot where the troops are for which he is searching. There is no explanation for how one of the two main characters is shot point blank and hit with such force that he falls down a flight of stairs, yet simply wakes up later and is able to go on. But somehow, one is able to put those suspension-of-disbelief problems aside, since one so badly wants the corporal to succeed in his mission.
The thinness of plot extends to the underlying moral fabric of the characters, too. While there are occasionally interesting conversations between Schofield and Blake, there is so much time spent running for their lives or simply establishing place with long landscape camera shots that the characters end up less well-developed than they might have been. There were nice touches like the discussion of cherry trees by Blake, who surprises Schofield with his knowledge and sensitivity, but then, when the cherry-tree image is brought in at the end of the film, it feels clumsy, without the depth needed for the empathy of the viewer to be fully engaged.
Of course courage, perseverance, the banality of war, and a number of other moral issues can all be found in 1917 in order to enable discussion, but there are not any new issues raised, nor any new thoughts added to these older ones. This is an impressive movie, but, on the other hand, the script is just so predictable, maudlin, and “familiar” that nothing feels unique. It’s like a pastiche of scenes from a thousand different, very good, war movies, pushing buttons that one knows are going to create emotions in people. It’s a movie I left with tears in my eyes, but not liking the manipulation that made that happen.
Drew Trotter is the Executive Director of the Consortium of Christian Study Centers. He was for twenty-two years the Executive Director and President of the Center for Christian Study in Charlottesville, VA. Drew has written on film and popular culture for over thirty years in such publications as Books & Culture, Christianity Today and Critique, and in the field of Biblical studies published Interpreting the Epistle to the Hebrews (Baker, 1997). For over twenty years, he has presented a seminar entitled Show and Tell: How to View a Movie Responsibly, helping laypeople and students in churches, Christian college and secular university environments understand this powerful medium and how to think about its influence both on the individual and the society. He has taught seminars on popular culture, university education in America today, a Biblical model of discipleship and how to interpret the Scriptures. Also a well-respected Bible teacher, Drew has lectured and preached at seminaries, churches and colleges throughout the United States and Canada on a wide variety of topics including prayer, discipleship, and Christian cultural awareness. Drew has three sons, two daughters-in-law and six grandchildren and lives with his wife of forty-seven years, Marie, in Charlottesville, VA. You can view the Consortium of Christian Study Centers website here: https://studycentersonline.org/