1917 (dir. Sam Mendes)

Editing goes a long way into films for accentuating its elements, which often cause our emotional responses. It is true for all topics be it war, tragedy, romance, mystery, thriller, horror …. you get the gist. 1917 however exemplifies, quite splendidly might I add, how a continuous long can achieve a similar effect as well. Additionally, the film also successfully creates the illusion of ‘real time’.

1917, directed by Sam Mendes within a month of its release has become a sensation for the audience and award shows. Apart from receiving multiple nominations in BAFTA, Golden Globes, Critics’ Choice and Academy Awards. It has won in the categories of Best motion Picture and Best Director in several of them.

img courtesy: imdb

The film follows the story happened on 6th April 1917, which truly becomes a race against time and space. Two young soldiers, Lance Corporal Blake and Lance Corporal Schofield receive the order to cross over the enemy territory of Germans. They are to deliver a message to Colonel Mackenzie of the Second Battalion of Devonshire Regiment, to call off the attack at dawn where a troop of 1,600 soldiers, including Blake’s brother, are about to walk into a trap which would lead to their massacre.

The film has been critically acclaimed for multiple reasons but mostly because of its usage of making it seem as its entirety has been shot in a long take. The long take in 1917 works on multiple levels to contribute to the film’s genius. Firstly, it creates a tension, stays with it, heightens it, lowers it and then starts all over again. In a way, tension is never completely suspended from the narrative. Instead, even in the moments of a relative relief, the fear of something going against the calm tends to heighten it more. Secondly, a long take which tries to keep the protagonists as its primary attraction and the surroundings as secondary, the audience supposedly become a companion in the journey of the soldier (s). Thirdly, with editing and discontinuity, information about other characters or events or places are available to the audience but in a continuous take, they are aware of just as much as the protagonists themselves.

img courtesy: imdb

Usually, I’m not a huge fan of War Films but this one is a masterpiece of filmmaking which will attempts to have the audience clutched to their seats in anticipation and adrenaline. So, if I were to explain the film in a phrase, it would be that my breath was stuck in my throat. The cinematography of the film is beautiful with long pastures of green and cherry blossom petals flowing of rivers.

However, the decomposing horror of the war is depicted with all its gruesomeness amidst the serene beauty of countryside locations as well.

A mixture which reminds us of the tragedy which can befall upon the ordinariness of life, when men turn against one another. Also, as an additional surprise, beginning and end ‘look’ very similar to each other in the film.