1917
U/A; Historical/Drama
Director: Sam Mendes
Cast: George MacKay, Dean-Charles Chapman, Mark Strong, Andrew Scott, Richard Madden, Benedict Cumberbatch
Rating: 

The concept of a long take (feature-length) single-shot film may not be a new idea, but its an exciting and inveigling one, nevertheless. 1917, Sam Mendes' new film is both technically accomplished and craftily executed. The technique employed here puts the primary focus, an unshakable one at that, on the two corporals tasked with getting a message across enemy lines, in time to save 1600 British troops headed towards a massacre(unwitting). It's not a strong enough premise for an epic-like feature-length narration but Roger Deakins' exquisitely involving, high-degree-of-difficulty, camerawork makes a meal of it - one worthy enough to bag a trunk full of Oscars. It's a feat of technical derring-do that needs to be seen in all it's cinematic glory - to be enraptured.

Amidst the turmoil of World War I, with the featured drama set around the "no man's land" in northern France separating British and German troops, we see two young corporals, Blake (Dean-Charles Chapman) and Schofield (George MacKay), awoken from a few minutes of sleep and tasked with what is considered to be a near-impossible mission. The General giving the orders makes it clear that there could be a posthumous medal in it for them. Everyone along that route is only praying for the message to reach in time - no one gives the two a chance of ever coming back...