By Ian Brockway

With breathtaking cinematography by Roger Deakins, Sam Mendes’ “1917” takes you to the realm of World War I, one of the most lethal wars in Western history. The film is immersive, vivid, sardonic and surreal. It is epic in scale and never lets go of its tension.

The film focuses on Blake (Dean-Charles Chapman) and his partner in war Schofield (George MacKay) and their friendship shared in crisis.

Blake is ordered to deliver a message across enemy lines essentially calling off an allied attack, because the German forces are planning an ambush. Blake is determined to succeed, especially because the mission will save the life of his brother.

The film excels in atmosphere and virtuosic camera maneuvers. It also unfolds like a horror film. The two young boys are put in thick trenches. All seems the color of shit. Boots are deep in mud and soiled water and gray corpses pop up like jellyfish, mouths agape in mute terror, tongues poking from the teeth like bologna, as if making a joke of death. Barbed wire prevails over the barren land like a net of poison crosses that draw black blood.

With each forbidding location the two walk through, the suspense is palpable.

You will hold your breath.

There is one very pesky black rat that sets everything in ominous motion.

Suffice to say events are frequently deadly and episodes unfold upon Schofield so quickly that he becomes like a Marvel Avenger in a video game, dodging bullets at a pace that would make Indiana Jones shake his head in wonder.

Again and again, Schofield and Blake endure one mishap after another. All is done with very little dialogue. The camera in a long masterful takes sets the tone. One look into Schofield’s eye says it all as his olive green iris becomes the exact shade of his helmet.

The film won a Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture and it earns its place among a long history of war films that include “Apocalypse Now” and “Saving Private Ryan.”

“1917” carries us along in its journey feeling like a 3D film with its visceral effect that is poignant as well as jarring.

Write Ian at [email protected]

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