New Release! 1917 (2019) [No spoilers, so read away!]

Spoiler-Free Review, so have no fear:

Director: Sam Mendes

One of the greatest war movies ever made. Hands down.

As the name of the movie implies, it takes place during World War I - the massive conflict in the early part of the 20th century that saw multiple countries at war throughout Europe and Mediterranean. Though the war was a massive affair that dragged on for roughly four years and involved millions upon millions of soldier, this particular movie mostly follows two young British soldiers, Lance Corporals Blake and Schofield. The two are commanded to deliver an urgent message to a regiment of 1,600 fellow soldiers who are set to fall into a massive trap. Blake's brother is in that company, and he and Schofield have to traverse a few miles of supposedly-abandoned no-man's land to reach their comrades and deliver the message before the attack takes place the following dawn.

The set-up of the tale is simple enough, as a classic race against the clock tale. But the execution is what sets this movie apart from so very many of its counter-parts.

Probably the most obvious element of the filming is that the entire movie is done in a virtually unbroken "tracking shot," meaning that the camera constantly stays on one or both of the main characters the entire time, without the camera ever cutting to a different angle or jumping to a different scene. This builds a sense of complete continuity and place, as you are experiencing exactly what Blake and Schofield are in real time, at exactly the same pace that they are. Plenty of films have used the tracking shot for such purposes, but they rarely last for more than a few minutes, due to the technical difficulties of executing them for very long. 1917 goes all-in with it, though, and the effects are powerful.

By telling the story with unbroken chronology, we are allowed to see everything these characters experience for the roughly two hours of the mission (two hours minus an indefinite period when one of them is knocked out). And while there are certainly moments of intense action and harrowing escapes, there are almost as many moments of eerie quiet and poetic meditation. As the story progresses, we can see the effects of the trauma through the ever-more glazed looks in the eyes and the ever-more desperate and blind urgency in the Lance Corporal's movements.

Blake and Schofield cross the wire into no-man's land,
towards the start of their mission against time. This still may
suggest the care that went into the costumes, sets, and props.

While all of this may suggest a thoroughly grim slog across a hellscape of war, there is more to it than that. Yes - the horrors of war are clearly presented, in their various degrees of gross inhumanity as well as brutal intimacy. However, there is real visual beauty and majesty to be noticed here and there, suggesting the remnants of the things which are supposedly being fought over. When Blake and Schofield walk through a quiet, abandoned orchard of stunning, white-blossomed cherry trees, it's almost painful to realize how much death a destruction has and will continue to happen in and around this otherwise beautiful, pastoral setting. Moments like this give the film extra layers and shades rarely found in a war picture.

I've read a few pieces critical of some elements of the movie, such as finding the sustained tracking-shot technique a distracting flourish, or that the slow moments beg questions about whether the characters' actions are in keeping with the demands of the premise. But I'm yet to read one of these criticisms that has shaken my feeling that I was watching a real masterpiece of cinematic art.

I highly recommend that anyone go and see this movie. Chances are that there will be something that amazes you, if not many things or the entire thing. 

Before I Die #593: The Big Parade (1925)

This is the 593rd movie I've watched out of the 1,187 movies on the "Before You Die" lists that I'm gradually working my way through.

Director: King Vidor

For its time, a surprisingly hard look at the horrors of war, though one that would hold up better if not for an overly long and farcical first half.

The movie focuses on James Apperson, a layabout son of a wealthy industrial capitalist based in New York City. After seeing a parade for troops heading to Europe to fight in World War I, Apperson is swept up in patriotic fervor and enlists in the army. In service, he befriends a couple of working class New Yorkers in his platoon- the bartender "Bull" and the riveter "Slim." The platoon is sent to France, but they spend their first several weeks away from the front lines and instead kill time and boredom in a small French village. Apperson takes a fancy to a local French woman, who returns his affection. Soon, however, Apperson's platoon is sent to actually fight. At the front, Apperson's platoon meets strong resistance from German snipers and heavy artillery, which mow down a large number of Apperson's comrades in arms, including Slim. Apperson heroically charges towards the German lines, taking out several soldiers and an artillery setup, but he loses his leg in the process. Upon returning home, Apperson finds that while his parents are proud of him, the horrors of war have left their mark on his psyche as well as his body. To find solace, he returns to France and finds the young lady with whom he fell in love.

The second half of this movie is clearly the standout feature of it, as it is the earliest example of a well-done, hard look at war that I've seen. From the chilling opening moments of the fighting, with Apperson's platoon slowly walking through sniper-infested woods and getting picked off one by one, to the outright chaos of the nighttime artillery bombardment, the terrors of armed warfare are made far clearer than audiences would have seen in motion pictures at the time. There is an appropriate sense of loss and misery conveyed through much of these latter parts of the movie, and I feel that this is what sets it apart and makes it a classic.

The sequence with the snipers in the forest is far quieter than
the later scenes of the nighttime bombings, but I found them
actually more harrowing. It is the actual battle scenes that
keep this movie firmly among the important films in history.

The first half of the film, though, can drag. Far more of it is dedicated to lighthearted sight gags and a dash of slapstick, more in keeping with the free and easy fare of a Buster Keaton or Charlie Chaplin movie. I think that a small dose of these things would have been fine, but the movie spends over an hour in this tone. It took patience for me to get through this first half, but the payoff of the second half was worth it.

Apparently, this was the highest grossing movie of all time in the United States, until Gone With the Wind came out 14 years later. It's not hard to see why, as it made an early and profound statement against warfare, during a period when the country was most certainly still dealing with the psychological fallout of losing so many people to its horrors. Fans of historical war movies and silent movies in general will want to see this one, as it was a clear prototype for later war movies like All Quiet on the Western Front, The Best Years of Our Lives, Paths of Glory, and many others.

That's 593 movies down. Only 594 to go before I can die.