Based on actual events that occurred during World War I, 1917 follows two British soldiers (George MacKay and Dean-Charles Chapman) sent alone across enemy territory to warn of an impending ambush by the German Army. The script from director Sam Mendes and Krysty Wilson-Cairns strips down to the bare essentials avoiding obvious tropes and cliches from war movies to deliver one of the most memorable entries to the genre in recent years which was based on a story Mendes’ grandfather told him as a child. Exceptionally well shot by cinematographer Roger Deakins, 1917 is a movie of heroism, sacrifice, and survival that is marvelous to behold.
For a film about war, 1917 is a deceptively quiet film that builds tension between the moments of action (equally as memorable as its quite sequences) as our protagonists race to prevent more than 1,000 troops (including a brother) from walking into the enemy’s deadly trap while performing what appears to the British line as a hasty retreat. Along the way, Mendes sprinkles in supporting performances from the likes of Benedict Cumberbatch, Colin Firth, Mark Strong, and Richard Madden, but the film belongs to the two soldiers on their own past the German line on a suicide mission to deliver a message in time.
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The more outrageous the lie, the more likely it is to be believed. Operation Mincemeat offers us a look at the 1943 deception operation instrumental to getting the Allies back in the fight. The group led by Ewen Montagu (Colin Firth) and Charles Cholmondeley (Matthew Macfadyen) was tasked with convincing Germany the Allies would invade Greece instead of the more logical location of Sicily. Their lie involved the creation of a solider who didn’t exist, a dead body, fake papers, and a lot of luck.
Smiley.