The Mission To Save 1,600 in ‘1917’

By Gabrielle K.

Five days ago, I went to see quite possibly one of the greatest movies I’ve ever seen in my entire existence with my best friend. Yes, I admit to this movie being one of my all-time favorites; and yes, it also takes a lot for me to love a movie so much. Sure, my love for the movie didn’t hit me until right here and right now, five days later. Yet, once the movie ended, my best friend and I looked at one another and agreed together that that movie was one we’d never forget.

1917, co-written, directed, and produced by Sam Mendes, tells of the story of the Third Battle of Ypres, also known as the Battle of Passchendaele, fought during World War I. This battle was fought between the Allies and the German Empire. The movie, though, is focused mainly on the Allies and their battle against the Germans. The actual battle itself consisted of three months of fighting amongst the two, beginning when the Allies launched an assault onto German territory on July 31, 1917. The battle eventually ended on November 10, 1917.

The actual movie itself presents a story within itself as well. Director Sam Mendes took the time to speak with his grandfather about his own experiences during his time in the war to create this movie. The movie follows two fictional British soldiers and their experiences as they travel across the Western Front--the location his grandfather was at during his time spent during the war--to deliver a message to another allied base in order to stop 1,600 men from walking into a German trap that would overpower them. This mission, of course, is make or break for a large part of the Allied forces during this war. If they succeed with the mission, they prevent 1,600 men from losing their lives to a German ambush. If they don’t succeed, however, those 1,600 men lose their lives and the future as we know it is potentially changed forever.

Filming for this highly-anticipated movie also creates a story alone on its own. The filming for 1917 was, quite amazingly, filmed in only one single take. Yes, a film capturing the intensity and realness of war itself was shot only in one single take throughout the entire movie. If you take time to sit and watch it, you will notice that the camera never cuts to different scenes. Instead, the entire film is solely focused on the two British soldiers in one whole scene. This alone is worth watching the movie in its entirety. Those in charge of producing and creating this movie definitely took their time with it to film it to perfection.

Ratings and reviews for this film also highly-praised it. Neil Soans, a writer from Times of India, writes in his review: “‘1917’ is tense, captivating, meticulous, horrifying and stirring.” Alex Godfrey, another writer for Empire, states: “Although 1917’s filmmaking very much brings attention to itself, it’s an astonishing piece of filmmaking, portraying war with enormous panache. This is big-screen bravado, and then some.”

91% of Google users like the movie, while the movie has also received a total rating of 4.4 out of 5 stars from the audience that has seen the movie so far. If you ask me, though, this movie easily deserves 4.9 stars out of five; the other 0.1 being lost in the beginning because of how slow it seemed at first.

This movie will have you on the edge of your seat wanting more. Make sure you grab a large popcorn, a large ICEE, a box of candy, nachos, whatever! If you love historical movies, especially about World Wars, you’ll easily love this movie as much as I did. It was definitely worth the watch, and I would watch it a million times over-and-over again if I could.