1917

Grade: A-

1917 is the kind of movie that made me give audible reactions. “Wow.” “Uh oh.” “Oh [crap].” “Ha!” – to name a few examples. The latter was when a soldier in the background fell down for no reason. He wasn’t injured, just lost his balance suddenly.

This is as good a war movie as I’ve ever seen, and is up there with my favorites from the genre, like Hacksaw Ridge and Enemy at the Gates. This time 20 years ago, director Sam Mendes was about to garner an Oscar and a Best Picture win for American Beauty, one of my all-time favorites. Since then, I’ve been yearning for him to do another one like it, with the same tone and feel, but he has primarily dealt in war films, old-timey period dramas, and James Bond. That being said, 1917 is his best since American Beauty, though they have nothing in common other than having Sam Mendes as director. Before I finished watching 1917, I was prepared to print the previous sentence without any qualifications. However, with less than 5 minutes to go before the credits, I heard some music in the score which I’m pretty sure was used within the last 5 minutes of American Beauty. This version was more string-heavy, while the recording used in “Beauty” had piano at the forefront, but it was the same notes and progression. If I’m correct about this, what a fascinating and chilling parallel we have here.

The critic for Roger Ebert’s website dinged this film for feeling too much like watching somebody play a video game, with the few scenes of dialogue playing like those mini-episodes that you see when you’re between levels. He’s not wrong; that’s a great way of describing it, but not only did I not have a problem with it, I thought it worked in the movie’s favor. There’s no fluff, just straight-up meat and potatoes. It is minimal on plot, and Mendes has chosen to edit it to look like one continuous shot, like Birdman. We know it’s obviously not REALLY one shot, but they had to have done some unusually long takes, with meticulous timing and choreography – and I didn’t see any evidence of cutting. What he is able to achieve is breathtaking. The cameras navigate tricky terrain, including a mine shaft with a collapsing ceiling, over rivers, down waterfalls, and in the back of a truck with about 10 men. When a soldier is fatally stabbed, we see his face get increasingly paler as he bleeds out. All in what looks like one long shot.

Benedict Cumberbatch and Colin Firth are the only two names in the cast I recognized, and their roles are small glorified cameos. It didn’t even register for me that Firth was in it until I saw the credits. Putting unknown faces in the leads was a gutsy experiment that paid off, and these actors are more than up to the task of what must have been a grueling experience to shoot. This is a gripping film that got better and better for me as it progressed, like the blooming of an American Beauty rose. I am hearing that the 3 leading contenders for Best Picture, at the moment, are Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Parasite, and 1917. My 3 favorites. Sometimes Oscar does get it right.

Grade: A-