Review: 1917 Is a Harrowing and Emotional War Story and One of the Best Films of the Year
I’ve enjoyed watching movies that tell incredible stories about war for as long as I can remember. There’s just something about people finding the courage and strength within themselves to survive, excel, and be heroic in the dire situations that they find themselves in during war. These kinds of stories inspire me to be a better person and to find strength and courage within myself.
We see war movies being made all the time, movies about the Civil War, World War II, the Vietnam War, and more. But, when it comes to World War I, there are only a handful of films that have been made. Some of those films are War Horse, They Shall Not Grow Old, Red Tails, All Quiet on the Western Front, and a few others that are much older films.
I was excited to learn that director Sam Mendes was going to make World War I movie ,and when the first trailer was released for 1917 I was immediately sold! The movie looked fantastic and then when I learned that the whole film was shot in a way to make it look like it was one continuous shot my interest was piqued. I needed to see how Mendes was going to pull this feat off!
Well, Mendes and his creative team went out and made a stunning and glorious World War I movie. 1917 is easily one of the best films of the year and is one of the best war films ever made. I was simply in awe from start to finish as I followed two young soldiers embark on a dangerous mission to save 1,600 men from certain doom during World War I.
The two characters were played by George MacKay and Dean-Charles Chapman, and they both gave incredible performances. You can’t help but like these two guys and you want them so badly to succeed in their journey, but along the way they are thrown into one insane and dangerous situation after another and the intensity of it just builds and builds until we reach the climax of the story.
The movie puts you right into the action of the story, and the fact that the film is made to film like one continuous shot with no cuts just adds so much to that harrowing experience. The film does an especially incredible job capturing the trench warfare of World War I in a raw and gritty way that I’ve never seen before.
1917 was an exhausting film, but I mean that in the best way. It’s an incredibly emotional story that drains you, and that’s one of the things I loved so much about the movie. This is a film that you have to see and experience on the big screen, so… go see this movie! I don’t see how anyone wouldn’t like the film. This is the reason why I love movies as much as I do!
