1917
January 13, 2020
This movie is like the Brits, slow excitement. The movie
does reach a crescendo, but early notes are muted. This is a story of a heroic
journey akin to the race to Marathon. A soldier is tasked to deliver an urgent
message across enemy lines to avert the slaughter of hundreds British troops
from an ambush laid by the Huns (stop the spoiler hate mail, this plot point
was in the coming attractions) .
The journey is fraught with perils and with
every advancement the tempo picks up. Sometimes heroic movies are uncomplicated,
it is overcoming the obstacles along the way that make them interesting.
The lead actor is George MacKay who almost carries the entire
film. He displays steely determination to complete his mission overcoming
daunting obstacles and life threatening situations. The battlefield is littered
with dead bodies, dead horses and poodle sized rats. MacKay’s physicality is an
essential part of his acting. He never stops, he is never deterred. He forges
rivered littered with dead bodies and out runs a crashing biplane.
To American audiences MacKay may not be well known (speaking
for myself). However, there are big named stars in the movie: Colin Firth,
Benedict Cumberbatch and Mark Strong. Regrettably each actor was given less
than a few minutes screen time.
The cinematography was impressive giving full force to sweeping
action scenes. Much is made of the so called one continuous shot, which actually
was computer manipulated. This technique heightened the sense of urgency for
MacKay to complete his mission. The war
torn landscape rendered by CG gave a palpable sense of death and carnage.
This film is a noble addition to the catalogue of war movies.
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