1917                       5 stars

1917 is a war movie that features no great battles of armies and no grand strategies of generals.  Yet it succeeds in conveying the horrors of war and the dangers of being a soldier in one of the greatest conflicts in human history.  Sam Mendes tells us the story of two British Lance Corporals who are sent on a mission to deliver a message to the commander of a British force that is about to launch an attack into what is described as a trap set by the German army.  This force is otherwise cutoff from communication in the days before wireless radios, so these two must venture through No Man’s Land in daylight to deliver the critical message.  Mendes, through the miracle of today’s special effects and tiny mobile cameras manages to film the scenes with an absolute minimum of cuts.  The result is a feeling that the audience is right there with the soldiers as one horror after another unfolds before them.  In addition the effect is aided by a superb score from Thomas Newman that captures the feeling of dread in No Man’s Land and the fast pace of the action sequences when the enemy is confronted.  The sets are just as I imagine what World War I looked like including the dead soldier’s bodies peering from the mud and the contrast of the construction of British trenches vs. German trenches.  Mendes used two unknown actors in the parts of the Corporals in order not to distract from the film’s focus.  The two young men are very effective in their roles so he made a good choice.  There are some well-known actors in supporting roles including Colin Firth and Benedict Cumberbatch as commanding officers who perform well.  I had been rooting for Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood“ to win the Academy Award for Best Picture, but now I will have to go with 1917.  I find it even more compelling than Dunkirk from a couple of years ago.