Some thoughts on the film “1917” (2019)

I saw this Sam Mendes directed film in the IFI back in the Before-Time. As you know, it deals with an imaginary episode from the eponymous year, where two soldiers are sent running to halt a British advance into a carefully laid German trap. As such the premise subverts some of the clichés of First World War films, which more usually feature callous or delusional generals sending the lower ranks off to certain death.

For me much of the film’s appeal lies with the Roger Deakins cinematography – as with everything he touches, it looks amazing and keeps managing to present stunningly composed shots and images to the viewer. The attack scene at the end is obviously one such, but there are many others. The strange scene in the woods where a unit’s commander sings the folk song ‘I Am A Poor Wayfaring stranger’ to his men before they attack…