“1917” celebrates its free TV premiere: the only weakness are the Hollywood superstars

The war drama “1917” is an outstanding and frightening work about the First World War. The film is now running on free TV for the first time.

“Hope is a dangerous thing,” director Sam Mendes (57) lets superstar Benedict Cumberbatch (46) whisper meaningfully into the camera. What Cumberbatch’s character means by that is impressively shown in just under two hours. Like “Nothing New in the West” recently, “1917” is a war drama that drags its viewers directly into the dirt, into the hell of the trenches. The work will also do this for the first time on May 19 (8:15 p.m., RTLzwei) on German free TV.

The mission to certain death – that’s what it’s all about

Dirt, blood and war-weary faces wherever you look. Around three years have passed since June 28, 1914, when the Austro-Hungarian heir to the throne, Franz Ferdinand, was murdered along with his wife in Sarajevo, triggering the First World War. Three years of bitter trench warfare and gas warfare, which has beaten an irrepressible desire for peace into even the most foolish youngster who once volunteered for the front with enthusiasm. And this wish seems within reach in 1917, as the German soldiers have retreated far and are about to capitulate. A misconception, as it turns out.

The retreat on the Western Front is merely a long-planned trap intended to lure some 1,600 men of Britain’s 2nd Battalion Devonshire Regiment to certain death, aerial photographs reveal. The problem: This life-saving information is not available to the commanders at the front. The two young soldiers Schofield (George MacKay, 31) and Blake (Dean-Charles Chapman, 25), whose big brother could himself become a victim of the ambush, are supposed to cross enemy territory against all odds and warn their comrades in good time. A mission to their doom, as both of them immediately realize.

idyll in hell

Lying exhausted in a meadow or leaning against a tree, the viewer gets to know the two main protagonists, Blake and Schofield. This moment of brief rest is idyllic, which is suddenly destroyed by a higher-ranking soldier, of whom only the legs can be seen. “Blake,” he says and kicks the person spoken to roughly. “Have a man, pack your stuff.” Of course, Blake doesn’t know that he’s condemning said man to a joint suicide mission when he chooses his friend Schofield.

What follows are 119 minutes in the life of two soldiers, trapped in the unreal world between trenches, “no man’s land” and the few patches of earth that have so far defied destruction. Almost in real time, Mendes accompanies the two on their heroic journey, the camera apparently never stops, comparable to Alejandro González Iñárritu’s (59) “Birdman”. A stroke of genius, as it turns out. With no cut, no visible editing, the immersion for the viewer is enormous. He ends up in the dirt alongside Blake and Schofield, the third man on their arduous journey. Condemned to watch while his comrades run to their doom.

Anonymous Heroism

This immersion would remain uninterrupted if the two didn’t keep running into top-class Hollywood stars. They receive their order from General Erinmore alias Colin Firth (62), in addition to the aforementioned Benedict Cumberbatch, Andrew Scott (46), Mark Strong (59) and Richard Madden (36) are waiting in and around the trenches.

Each of them does their job extremely well, no question about it. Nevertheless, their star power tears, which is generated by the outstanding camera work. “That’s right, it’s only a movie,” the audience is unnecessarily reminded when Doctor Strange or Robb Stark suddenly appear in uniform. Of course, names like Cumberbatch, Madden and Firth were great for promotional purposes, but if you let them lure you to the movies or in front of the television you fall into a bigger trap than the Devonshire Regiment. The really big names in “1917” can only be seen for a few seconds. They are nothing more than tiny transition stations that stand out far too much in the sea of ​​anonymous war invalids.

The courage to have cast two Hollywood newcomers for the two main roles cannot be emphasized enough. Dean-Charles Chapman is probably only known to most as the young King Tommen Baratheon from “Game of Thrones” and has changed a lot since then. The biggest coup, however, is George MacKay: his performance is so convincing, you’d think he had to go into therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder after filming.

Reality, fiction and degree of violence

Historically, “1917” takes some liberties. The German trap shown in the film did not exist in this form; the plot is loosely based on “Operation Alberich”, during which the German troops withdrew to the Siegfried Position, which was easier to defend, in the spring of 1917. And the two main characters never existed either. Their combined life story is a dramatized distillation of stories told to director Sam Mendes by his own grandfather, who served as a dispatcher in World War I.

The film also refrains from addressing the use of poison gas, which first took place in 1915 and gave the First World War a particularly nightmarish character. Surprising at first, but understandable from a cinematic point of view – with protagonists whose faces are covered by gas masks for half of the film, emotional bonding is difficult.

In general, however, Mendes does a good job of depicting the horrors of war without becoming too explicit. For the most part, “1917” spares the glimpse of gashs or severed limbs seen in the brutal opening scene (Landings in Normandy) of Saving Private Ryan. Most of the time, the viewer gets an idea of ​​the horror they are exposed to through the reactions of the main characters.

Conclusion:

“1917” breaks the horrors of an incomprehensible global conflict down to the smallest possible level. Based on the tale of woe of two faces that are still refreshingly fresh in Hollywood, Mendes succeeds in mastering it. He suggests that individual fates like those of the fictitious soldiers Blake and Schofield, whose war trauma the viewer only witnesses for a ridiculous 119 minutes, have actually happened millions of times over the years – and continue to do so in current wars. If this thought doesn’t make you a pacifist, then it doesn’t matter anymore.

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