Review of 1917, directed by Sam Mendes

For so many years, people have been telling me to watch 1917. It’s one of those movies that falls into my classic routine. I hear about it for the first time, get so hype to watch it, then I don’t end up watching the movie until several years later when it just happens to fall in my lap in a very odd way.

This time I was sitting around while waiting for my grant to South Korea to start. I graduated from my master’s degree in May 2024, and I wasn’t leaving for Korea until mid-June 2024, so I had a lot of time to kill. I’d quit my job as a film critic because I was supposed to go to India after that, and I only had my freelance work and this blog to do.

So what did I end up doing? As an funemployed person with no car in suburbia, I watched a ton of movies. It meant that chugged through a good chunk of my Netflix to-watch list, although I swear I’m going to die with over a thousand shows and movies on there at if Netflix is still around at the end of my life.

I watched 1917 during this time. It was one of those days where I was just scrolling through, saw it was an option, kind of shrugged my shoulders, and then I watched it. And I see why people told me to watch it all of these years.

I’ve rambled enough already. Onwards with the review!

Two young British soldiers are sent on a dangerous task of sending a single message across enemy lines.

As one can infer from the title of this movie, it takes place in 1917, right in the middle of World War I. It’s brutal and ugly still, and at this point of when the movie begins in April, the Germany army is retreating towards the Hindenburg Line. They’re waiting for the British to follow, as they’re going to have all of their forces there to outmatch the British.

In one trench, with no way to communicate, two young British men, William and Tom, are tasked by their general to find Colonel Mackenzie. They need to cancel an attack that was planned, as this would potentially kill most of the men in that unit—which happens to include Tom’s own brother.

To send this message, they’re going to have to cross no man’s land. And they do just that. William hurts his hand as they go through the manless German trenches, and then they find a tripwire along the way. As they avoid it, a rat scampers by and sets it off, leaving a mass explosion in its wake.

William is almost killed by it, but Tom manages to get him away. They continue on their path, finding an empty farmhouse along the way. As they look up, they find a German plane being shot down in the sky. They decide to help the German pilot out of the wrecked plane, and Tom asks William to get him some water.

But when William turns around, Tom is stabbed by the pilot. William shoots the guy until he’s dead, but that’s it for Blake. William watches as Tom dies, comforting him in his final moments, and has to complete the mission alone. He promises to Tom that he will write to his mother, and decides to take his rings and dog tag to his brother.

A unit passes by that’s British, and William continues with them. When they stop at a destroyed bridge, he goes on his own again, but then, when crossing the river, a sniper targets him. He manages to kill the sniper, but is knocked out in the process. William then keeps going, and befriends a French woman who’s taking care of an oprhan.

She helps him out by cleaning his wounds, and he offers some food he took from the farmhouse. She doesn’t want him to leave, but he has to when he hears a clock and realizes there’s no time left. He jumps into a river to escape the Germans coming after him, and after falling down a waterfall, he finds the unit he needed to.

He runs through the men in search of Colonel Mackenzie, running across a straight up battlefield just in the knick of time. Colonel Mackenzie tries to kick him out, but then he reads the letter and calls off the attack.

William then hunts down Tom’s brother, who is among the injured folks but is just bloody with no serious damage. He hands over the dog tag and rings, watching as the brother gets upset. He thanks William for everything, and then William asks to write to their mother. The brother agrees.

The movie then ends with William sitting under a tree, looking at pictures of his family and a message that only says “Come back to us.”

Overall Thoughts

This is a classic war movie that doesn’t really stand out in terms of story to me. but instead stands out in the techniques in which it was filmed. Lots of long takes, or at leas the illusion of having these, scattered throughout the course of the running time.

War movies can be hit or miss to me if we’re being honest. Sometimes I really don’t like the ones that are trying to clearly outline good and bad in a way that feels like there’s an agenda (I say this with reason—certain regimes and governments are clearly crossing ethical boundaries. I don’t like propaganda like films that glorify war), but this one doesn’t dive into that.

All of this is to say that I didn’t hate this film. I didn’t love it either, but I could see how easily someone could love it if they’re into this genre. I’m not, but I can appreciate the hard work that clearly went into planning and executing this one.

Watch it if you haven’t already and are interested in its plot or technique. It might be worth it!

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