Set on the front lines of World War One, 1917 tells the story of two young British soldiers, Schofield and Blake, who are given the mission to cross over into enemy territory to deliver a message that could save the lives of 1,600 men including Blake's own brother.
The choice to use a 'oner' (a continuous long shot without a visible cut) can veer on the side of gimmick if used wrongly. When not utilised to serve the story, action or character, it can come off as a cheap attempt at stylisation rather than a considered directorial choice. Before its release, director Sam Mendes' new film 1917 was highly publicized for the fact that it was filmed to look like one continuous shot. Though this was an exciting concept, it may have worried some. Would this be a gorgeous but empty film? Perhaps one that imitated the beautiful one-take already featured in Atonement, which also depicted the devastation of World War I.
Even after its release, some may still feel that way towards 1917. In fact, I think it may have received a greater backlash if, in another universe, it had beaten Parasite in the Best Picture race (it's the 'popular thing is deemed to be overrated actually' arc that we see all too often in pop culture). Luckily, it didn't. Regardless, I find 1917 to be one of the greatest war movies I have seen. Its use of the one take is incredibly effective because Mendes pairs a potentially showy technique with a simple, heartfelt story of two soldiers trying to deliver a message to save sixteen hundred men. It is this simplicity- the bond between two brothers in arms and the climactic race to fulfill the mission that is enhanced by, rather than buried under, the way the movie was shot.
You might expect that a movie shot in this manner may end up fizzling out towards the end of its runtime, but 1917's climactic finale is the high point of the entire film. Throughout the entire story, we have stayed with Schofield- his initial reluctance to go on the mission, cynicism towards the war, loss of his best friend and struggle to survive behind enemy lines. The one constant through the journey is their mission to deliver a message to Colonel McKenzie to call off an attack that would lead to the deaths of all the soldiers involved. And so, when we finally reach the point where Schofield reaches his destination, we know that everything lies in this mission succeeding. Not just to save the lives of sixteen hundred men, but to make sure that Blake's death was not in vain.
As ever with these posts, I have to mention the score. The track 'Sixteen Hundred Men' by Thomas Newman (Shawshank Redemption, Finding Nemo, The Help) was my most played title on Spotify of that year. It is a glorious track that accompanies an astounding sequence that sees Schofield pushing his way through the trenches, desperately trying to find Colonel McKenzie. The steady build-up in music makes for a perfectly paced sequence that leads up to one of my favourite cinematic moments of recent years. Watching Schofield go over the trench, running as fast as he can, colliding with the masses of soldiers running in the opposite direction while shells explode behind him, is a jaw-dropping moment that I vividly remember seeing for the first time in the theatre. The score swells and the camera pulls backwards to capture the scope of the moment- the visceral sound, the music, the intensity of the central performance, the scope of the production, the perfect pacing... it gives me goosebumps every time without fail. It is absolutely enthralling from a cinematic point of view, but also emotionally impactful without a word said.
This is what the entire movie has been building to. Schofield, a man who previously admitted to trading away a medal for a bottle of alcohol because it was 'a bit of tin', is putting his life on the line to save the soldiers around him and honour his friend is the kind of character arc that cinema is all about. And it works because of everything we have seen him go through. We may not know much about him, but we do know just how much he has lost to get to this point. A huge part of the power of this scene is down to George MacKay- I certainly didn't expect him to be the main character of the film but his performance centers the movie tremendously. In a landscape full of action movies that have arbitrary and vague 'save the world' situations that we barely remember for a week afterwards, it's rare to see a story that can make you care so deeply about a single mission in a war that had thousands upon thousands of critical, life or death situations.
And that may be the exact point of 1917's story. Though World War I was an event that was built upon the feuds between huge and powerful nations and of an unimaginable scale, it's really the stories of the individuals involved that matter and should continue to be remembered.
Thanks for reading the 15th in my series of favourite movie scenes! If you'd like to read my thoughts on more, you can find links to the series so far below: