1917, written by Sam Mendes and Krysty Wilson-Cairns and directed by the former - 10 out of 10

1917, written by Sam Mendes and Krysty Wilson-Cairns and directed by the former

10 out of 10

This is the best motion picture of the year, sharing the first place in this figurative competition with the ethereal and terrifying Parasite, as attested by the Golden Globes won for Best Motion Picture – Drama – for this cinephile, Once Upon a Time in…Hollywood, winner in the Musical and Comedy category, is no match for the two aforementioned magna opera- and Best Director for the  formidable Sam Mendes, though there is still a major dissatisfaction for the fact that wonderful George MacKay – remarkable in Captain Fantastic before this – has not received a nomination for a trophy won by Rocketman – Really, was that for real?

The marvelous film achieves the impossible task of giving the audience a measure of the size of the conflict that has torn Europe and a good portion of the rest of the world apart, without engaging in the usual – expected and feared by this viewer – scenes filled by explosions, severed limbs, trainloads of blood – Saving Private Ryan comes to mind and the excruciating landing on the beach in world War II – in a rather subdued, poetic manner at times, such as when the two main characters walk by a multitude of cherry trees, alas all of them cut down – in just one of the many symbols of the futility and destruction of that and any other momentous  conflict.

Lance Corporal Schofield aka marvelous George MacKay, many times more deserving of a Globe than Rocketman or Awkwafina, and Lance corporal Blake have to embark on a terribly dangerous mission, which is to announce about 1,600 of their comrades that they need to stop before they are slaughtered in a trap set by the Germans, who have maneuvered so that they are thought to be retreating and abandoning their positions, but in a strategic move, designed to lure the adversary into a place where they would pound and destroy them…

The field is devastating, the images could not be more horrifying, even without everything blowing up on the screen – there are quite a few battle scenes, which is inevitable, but the tragedy is much more suggested than pushed down the thought of the public, in eerie, long scenes where the two corporals walk through scenery that has bodies everywhere – at one point, Schofield had jumped into a river, cornered by the enemies, and in order to get out he has to climb on top of one copse after another – dead horses with flies all over them, , canons, shells and other ammunition…

Among those who would be saved, if they ever reach their intended destination, would be Blake’s brother, which makes the young man more eager to start than his companion, who urges some restraint, they should at least spend some time before launching and try to get better ready, perhaps psychologically, if not otherwise, but the determined brother would hear no more, even is alas, he might not make it so far into unknown territory…

Schofield had won a medal, but in another remarkable symbolism, we learn with his comrade that he had given it to a Frenchman for…a bottle of wine and when asked about his mad gesture, he replies that he was thirsty, though when pressed, he explains that the medal means nothing ‘one is no different with that metal’ although the other corporal is rather infuriated by this abandonment of such an important, prestigious honor which should have been brought back home, to give the family…

After they pass the cherry trees, of which Blake knows so much – they are sour and many other varieties – they arrive near a farm that had been almost completely destroyed, where one of them gets some milk in his recipient for water – which would become essential later, when he would meet with a very young French woman, who has a baby of whom she knows nothing, not what his name is or who the mother is, and the milk would prove vital, lifesaving actually.

As they walk around the barn and the other crumbling construction, they see a dog fight between their planes and the Germans – wondering what they see up in the air, where the view is so generous and therefore the pilots would know what to avoid on the ground – and one of the enemy planes is shot down and as it crashes, it ends up right in the barn, near them and the two British men jump to help the pilot escape from the burning wreck and then place him on the ground and Schofield walks away to get some water, only to turn around and see that the fucking bastard had just stabbed his by now friend in the stomach or nearby and though he shoots the ungrateful enemy down, it might be too late for Blake to escape with his life…

Indeed, the wounded soldier does not have a chance and his comrade feels he has to tell the truth and say that he thinks Blake would die and the last words would be a request to write to his mother and the survivor gets the photos and some of the memories from the now dead man, when he sees Captain Smith aka Mark Strong, who takes him with his men to some trucks, to help him arrive to his destination, though the vehicles get stuck in the mud and the hero tries hard to give in an impulse to the others, for he is in a hurry, the countdown is pressing and if he does not make it in time, sixteen hundred men might be slaughtered…

Schofield comes across Germans, the first one he sees would be just as treacherous as the dead pilot, for the British man makes the sign for silence, with the hand on the mouth of the enemy, who shows he agrees, but when the hand is taken away, the German shouts and thus e is killed in the ensuing fight, which is then followed by a race for life, in which the corporal is chased and shot at by the companions of his victim…

Let us avoid spoiler alerts and not mention what happens when the protagonist meets with Colonel MacKenzie aka Benedict Cumberbatch, but conclude that this is magnificent motion picture, much better, along with Parasite, than most of last year’s celebrated films, expect for Portrait of a Lady on Fire, which comes close in cinematic value…