9.5/10
Friendship and Bravery - I am inspired! Gotta have some nuts to be that nuts ‘cause these two soldiers are on a dead man’s errand. I’ve seen plenty of war films, but this one is heroic af.
Sprinting through the valley of the shadow of death, No-Man’s land, ever heard of it? Forty-two miles of deserted, booby-trapped battlefield. Wow, I’d much rather be gripping the triggers of my Xbox controller than physically running across those trenches.
Although this wasn’t a true story per-say, the director’s grandfather relayed many crucial facts from WW 1 that inspired the story brought to film. When Mendez was a child, his grandfather spoke of a time when he had to relay a note to the other commanding officers that changed the tides of the war.
The Germans had cut off telegraph cables and telephone lines so sending messages was difficult to say the least. “My grandfather fought in the First World War. He was very young, and small and very fast. He was given the job of carrying messages on the Western front … the spirit of what he told me and the central idea of a man carrying a message wouldn’t leave me. It just clung on in there somehow, for the last 50 years.”
The German’s really did retreat to the Hindenburg line to a “newly built and massively fortified" safehold area to set a trap for the offensive attack of the British army. What a perfect stage for a heroic journey, to deliver a life-saving letter to the first line.
Although it has nothing to do with the plot, April 6 of 1917 was also the same day that the US joined the war. This date was chosen by the director since it is historically significant, but it also isn’t tied to the events of the story. The Smithsonian notes that the attack Soldier's Schofield and Blake was heavily modeled on The Battle of Poelcappelle, which actually happened in Belgium in late 1917 during the Third Battle of Ypres, and The First Battle of Passchendaele, which was part of the same campaign that was based on misleading information.
In summary, I can see why this film received several trophies at the Oscars. Bravo! What a thrill this one is. One downside, however, is that it can be a bit heavy, but then again, what war movie isn’t? Unless you are talking about Jo Jo Rabbit, I guess?
Go see it, it’s totally worth the 2 hours of action and suspense.
tl;dr
“too long; didn’t read” Date Flick? - Nah, but not all date movies are rom coms and dramas. I saw Hacksaw Ridge with my lady, and 1917 would’ve been a better date flick. Great Flick? - Yeah absolutely, without a doubt.
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