1917 Film - Tumblr Posts
1917 (Dir: Sam Mendes, 2019).
A fact-based, fictionalised epic First World War drama from director Sam Mendes.
During WWI, Lance Corporals William Schofield (George MacKay) and Tom Blake (Dean-Charles Chapman) must risk their lives crossing no man’s land in order to deliver a message to call off a planned attack on the German army. With field telephone lines down, news that the attack would jeopardise the lives of 1600 Brits, including Tom’s brother Lieutenant Joseph Blake (Richard Madden), must be relayed in person.
Read the full review on my blog JINGLE BONES MOVIE TIME! Link below.
guys protip: do NOT watch 1917 on your period holy shit
I just finished watching 1917 and the thought that is ringing through my head is that bit from All Quiet on the Western Front about how the new, young soldiers are always the first to die
In contrast to the suffocating trenches and mud, wire and destroyed ruins, of death,
Blake, like the orchard and the trees and the woman and the baby, are all symbols of innocence, of home, of life
And that makes his death all the more tragic
"English! I'm English! Anglais."
"Anglais, not German. Friend... I'm a friend."
Colonel Mackenzie: I want General Erinmore at my funeral.
Schofield: Sir?
Colonel Mackenzie: So he can let me down one last time.
Schofield:
Colonel Mackenzie: Now fuck off, Lance Corporal.
another of my favourite things about 1917 is how well the soundtrack ties into what’s happening on screen. because in other films, it’s very easy and very common for the soundtrack to become nothing more than background music - it plays under the scene, it might have one particularly grand moment during a final battle or pivotal bit, but for the most part, it’s just there to fill the silence and add a bit of ambience.
but in 1917, it’s more like ballet, or live theatre, or, actually, very much like fan edits - because, all through the film, there are beats that fall on specific pieces of action, like when scho slams bäumer against the column and there’s the thud built into the music. and that is so satisfying.
and even more than being satisfying as a viewing experience to have the music perfectly align with what we’re seeing, it makes it even more immersive when you’re listening to the soundtrack by itself - because it’s so synced with the visuals, you know precisely what is happening even when you haven’t got the film in front of you. in “the night window”, you know exactly when scho begins to run from the rifle fire. in “engländer”, you know exactly when müller stumbles out of the ruined school and throws up, and you know exactly when bäumer stops breathing, and when scho starts to run, and when he breaks free of the maze of rubble and starts along that long stretch of open road, and when he makes the jump from the bridge. in “sixteen hundred men”, you know exactly when he starts and ends his run, and when he rolls back down into the trench. in “gehenna”, you know exactly when they’re beginning to approach the german frontline, and you know when they finally arrive at it and aim their rifles down the trench. in “come home to us”, you know exactly when scho closes his eyes.
and then, even more than that, there are times when you don’t even realise there’s any music playing at all, when it just sounds like your own heartbeat or the sound of distant war - when it somehow manages to sound like tense silence. it took my mum six viewings in the cinema and me pointing it out for her to even realise that there was music throughout the entire film - because so much of it blends in with what’s happening on screen so fluently that it just disappears. hell, there’s even the sound of distant explosions, rumbling, and plane propellers built into “milk”! “écoust saint mein” has a heartbeat thudding in the background! you feel afraid and nervous and you don’t even know why.
and so much of the musical cues echo what the characters are feeling - so you end up with these moments in the music that are almost tangible, that portray emotion in a way that cuts deeper and is more personal and recognisable to the audience than just seeing it can be: the panicked violin strings after scho kills bäumer in “engländer”, that are like scho’s whirlwind of thoughts given a voice; the fact that from 2:05 onwards, “the night window” feels like howling, like wailing, like everything scho isn’t able to do and process in that moment - it feels like sweeping grief, like just screaming yourself raw to the night sky, like a slow build-up of misery and sorrow and fear and anger into a final blinding, unhinged outburst, because that’s what that run is: more than just running for his life, it’s running blind into this concussed, swirling landscape where nothing makes sense and where he’s alone and lost and grieving, and finally he feels. and then it quietly settles down into something tidy and contained again because schofield can’t let himself collapse.
and also!! just - the way even the happier and prettier sounding music always descend into tense, unsettling endings, because there’s no such thing as peace in this film and there’s always danger and trauma lurking around the corner, and when it isn’t physical it’s still in their minds. like that horrible, high-pitched, vibrating rumble in “mentions in dispatches” before the mission is even revealed. it is so unsettling - because that’s how they feel. always. constantly. and thomas newman wasn’t afraid to make some of the tracks almost impossible to listen to, like “tripwire” - because they aren’t meant to be listened to, they aren’t meant to be artful and nice, they’re meant to be experienced, felt, lived. and the way that “a bit of tin” isn’t some sweeping, sorrowful track - it’s just quiet, and subdued, and bleak, and empty, because that’s what blake’s death has done to schofield. it isn’t wild, soaring grief like it later becomes in “the night window”; it’s just... quiet. and the way the introduction to the film and to blake and schofield, the way their title track, is just... so unsettled. so sparse and mournful. so tired. it isn’t the sympathetic theme of drained heroes. it isn’t the grand and joyous tribute to soldiers who have done their duty. it’s just bleak - even with blake, it’s just bleak: even if he isn’t like schofield now, this introduction promises that it’s just a matter of time, and the war is chipping away at him piece by piece as well, and as the track descends lower and lower near the end, that’s what he would have become if he’d survived. he was probably so much more when he first arrived, too. the warm, cheery, naïve blake that we meet, this introduction promises, is still a pale ghost compared to the boy he was a few months ago.
and it’s brilliant. because it goes beyond just a visual experience - the music has become the film in and of itself. and it’s spectacular as well because it may not have one outstanding score that’s become so iconic that it can be hummed and everyone will know it in an instant - it hasn’t got a song like the star wars or jurassic park or mission impossible themes. the entire soundtrack is the film and the recurring motifs are so subtle that you hardly even realise you’ve started to recognise and expect them. and i just love it so, so much. it is such a truly, deeply beautiful soundtrack that is so revolutionary for a war film and i could wax poetic about it for hours.
What's the movie that made you cry?
i was talking about the movie 1917 and the video essay 'in the moment: a 1917 video essay' by ladyknightthebrave and is like possibly my favourite one ever now. i really recommend watching it if you enjoyed the film!
what made me cry is when they end the essay as such: "i think part of what draws me to this film, aside from y'know, everything, is the contradictions of it. will schofield spends the entire movie trying to fulfil a promise, and he both succeeds and fails. he tries to stop one battle, but there'll be another one tomorrow. he commits acts of desperate heroics that will mean nothing in the grand scheme of things and yet it means everything. he's surrounded by brutality but also so many random acts of kindness, and he responds in kind to all of it. he tries to help two people stranded in the middle of a battlefield, he tries to keep his promise to his dead friend and he tries as hard as he can to stay alive and come home to his family. it's dramatic and desperate and horrifying and beautiful in it's own right. kait rokowski once wrote 'nothing ever ends poetically. it ends and we turn it into poetry. all that blood was never once beautiful. it was just red.' and, after what will goes through, he doesn't get a happy ending. but he gets a gentle one. he gets to sit back against this tree, a reflection of how the movie first began, and he gets to rest. knowing he did what he could. and the rest, well. the rest is just blood and poetry."
I love the colour parallels in Dunkirk (2017) and 1917 (2019) because Dunkirk had such a cool colour palette and 1917 had such a warm colour palette but then in Dunkirk we have a warm palette in the burning spitfire scene and in 1917 we have a cool palette in that scene where Will is floating down the river and that’s just poetic cinema even though the films have nothing to do with each other directly
So knowing that J.R.R. Tolkien fought in WWI got me thinking and I now present to you:
1917 Characters in Middle Earth: A Somewhat Niche Post
Schofield: a jaded captain of Rohan that’s seen one too many battles. Hangs out with Éomer on weekends (they always just end up drinking and complaining). When he’s stressed he takes his trusty horse and goes on long rides, sometimes into Fangorn. At this point he knows all the ents and is friends with the trees.
Blake: citizen of Gondor. This boy wants to be a part of the army so bad, but Joe’s already a part of it so Tom stays home to look after his mom. They live in Minas Tirith, but sometimes Tom will go on day trips to Osgiliath. On one of these trips he meets one Captain Schofield of Rohan and from that point on his new goal is to travel all of Middle Earth.
Smith: an elf of Mirkwood. A brilliant high-ranking fighter that sometimes gives military counsel to Thranduil. One of the first Mirkwood elves to sail to the Undying Lands (or Valinor) because he is done with everyone’s shit™️.
Leslie: spends most of his time in the Prancing Pony drinking. Bad day? Gets a drink. Good day? Gets a drink. Spare time? Let’s head to Bree. Got things to do? There’s always time for the Prancing Pony. The inn keeper wonders if he’ll ever rent a room or if he even has a job (because the dude’s there pretty much all the time), but he’s not gonna say anything because Leslie brings in $$$.
Mackenzie: a stubborn-ass dwarf from Erebor. Doesn’t really have many friends apart from a close-knit group of dwarves. He doesn’t get out much, but instead spends time overseeing miners. A little bit of a workaholic (someone get this boy outside for drinks or something).
Lauri: Rivendell elf. She spends most of her time enjoying the beauty of nature and taking long walks in the forest. One time while walking along the Bruinen river she found an abandoned human baby and she immediately took her in as her own. The other elves were a little apprehensive at first, but everyone soon fell in love with the child and her relationship with Lauri.
Baumer: a young man of Rohan who recently joined the cavalry. He tries his best but is always too tired to focus because he stays up all night either drinking or exploring the vast land of Rohan. He picked up this habit from watching his captain doing the same thing (he sees his captain as an older brother figure).
Cooke & Co: infamous hobbits of the Shire. Hardcore troublemakers. Older hobbits hate them, but all the kids love them. If they’re not having a drinking contest at the Green Dragon then they’re out and about, seeing what trouble they can get into or what pranks they can pull. You can hear them shouting and singing late into the night.
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