“Time is the enemy. ” It is the marketing slogan of the 1917 World War I epic by Sam Mendes, winner of this year’s Golden Globe for Best Drama. Since Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk, time has long presented himself as the scariest enemy of a war movie. 1917, the apparent enemy (the German army) is virtually invisible. Of course we see your bullets, bombs and bunkers; but we (most of the time) don’t see their faces. In fact, Mendes and Nolan want the audience to focus on a more universal and terrifying villain: the time and death of close relatives.
Do we all face this villain? Whose weapon is simply a ubiquitous presence that constantly reminds us that our time is limited; our lives are like steam. What are we going to spend this precious life on?
- Mendes loosely based the 1917 plot around an amalgam of stories told to him by his grandfather.
- Alfred.
- Who fought at the Battle of Passchendaele.
- Belgium.
- In 1917.
- Mendes remembers that his grandfather told him the story of having to carry a message for No Man’s Land?A story that forms the core of the fictional plot of 1917.
- We followed two British soldiers.
- The aspiring Corporal Schofield (George McKay) and the aspiring Corporal Blake (Dean-Charles Chapman).
- As they tried to convey a message through enemy territory.
- To another group of British soldiers about to be ambushed.
- Approximately 1.
- 600 men.
- Including Blake’s brother.
- Will be lost if the message doesn’t arrive on time.
The task is apparently impossible and probably a suicide mission, and the boys know it. Even fewer men would refuse to go, knowing they would probably die. However, when Schofield and Blake receive austere orders from the general (Colin Firth plays a small but memorable role), they respond with a firm greeting.
This resolute gesture, made with undeniable fear in the eyes, captures the beauty of duty and the simple obedience to say ‘yes’ to something expensive and difficult, simply because a higher authority gave him the order in a world where ‘follow your heart’, where do you want to do it?deference to authority amounts to blasphemy, does the moment seem radical and invigorating?and the rest of the film is based solely on that.
It’s been a long time since a film had submerged me in its universe as strongly as it was in 1917. Essentially shot in two-hour shots, the movie?What presents the master cinematography of living legend Roger Deakins?It’s a cinematic feat rarely attempted. But not unprecedented (Birdman, Rope and Russian Ark are other examples of slow shots) It’s hard to imagine all the preparation, choreography, stage design and time it takes for real-time action to unfold smoothly, but that’s what’s happening. to all the artists involved in this monumental company.
Some may call it a “one shot” hyper stylization concept film, but I see it as cinema magic at its best. Mendes is a talented director (see Road to Perdition and Skyfall in particular), and 1917 is your best film yet, arguably your most cinematic. But the movie is not only immersive in itself; it serves the story well, putting viewers into action. We squirm when giant rats cross the trenches in front of us. We jump when unexpected balls hit us. We are tense at every threatening noise, be it an artillery barrage or the engine of an airplane in the sky. We are here with Schofield and Blake as they face one death trap after another; it’s a terrifying experience.
Few movies have left me on the edge of the chair this year. The action is impetuous and ruthless, greatly intensified by the feeling of “Is time running out?”Plotted in real time. Sometimes there are brief moments when we can catch our breath, highlighting a particular scene: a soldier in a forest singing gospel/folk music?Wayfaring Stranger? Hundreds of their comrades as they prepare to carry out the first wave of attacks. The faces of soldiers are sober and strangely peaceful when they hear the words, probably the last ones they will hear on this side of eternity:
I’m just a poor traveler
Traveling in this world here
No illness, no work, no danger
In this brilliant country I’m going to
Music creates a meaningful scene because it helps us understand how these men handle the proximity of death and why, so voluntarily, they leave the trenches and enter the minefields, full of wires, bodies and death. They’re hopeful. They understand that, dying young or old, everyone ‘travels this world from below’. Does the hope of a real home put into perspective the tiredness and dangers of life. This makes painful suffering a bearable task.
It would have been understandable if Schofield and Blake questioned the orders they were given, or even their decisions to stay out of danger and not in it. Certainly, for many soldiers, why? The war was never clear. Dozens of dead and mutilados. de horrible ways, but for what, the wear and tear of war up?The last man standing? This probably seemed useless to many in the trenches, however, many went to their deaths.
Even more than the impressive technical and artistic value of 1917, it’s what makes it so beautiful and inspiring. When we see Schofield and Blake do their duty so voluntarily, brave and, of course, frightened, it gives us courage. , like some of the other great films of 2019 (A Hidden Life, The Irishman, 63 Up), that life is fragile and that death is inevitable, we do not know how many days we will have nor can we choose how easy or difficult our path will be. To quote Gandalf’s wisdom: “All we have to decide is what to do with the allotted time. “
1917 captures the beauty of men fighting the villain of time, giving everything they can in the few moments they have. Eternity is the price, anyway, why not spend your life on something bigger?It is a film about understanding the At this time, the recognition of the urgency of the mission and the choice of obedience sacrificed to the comfort of self-preservation, is also a reminder for Christians to stop wasting time fighting for trivial things. God’s mission is greater and his call is urgent Let’s get out of the trenches and fight for what matters.