1917/The movie/What was the big deal?
- Thread starter Titus Andronicus
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I will also add that for 1917 - the other problem regarding the story is that there really aren't that many stories of heroism that translate well to film. Especially from the Western Front, which is what most Americans think of regarding WW1, it's just such a brutal war and the fighting after the opening months of the war was largely stuck in the same place so you can't realistically portray soldiers advancing or retreating.
The best WW1 movies are the ones that have been able to portray that without getting caught slogging along plot-wise.
The best WW1 movies are the ones that have been able to portray that without getting caught slogging along plot-wise.
I loved it. I thought it and JoJo Rabbit were the best movies of the year.
My grandfather was a tanker (usually a driver, occasionally a gunner) from the very beginning of the war to the very end. He was an older guy (early 30s) and had joined the Army National Guard to make extra money while working in Washington state as a lumberjack. He was assigned to a “tank” company even though they had no tanks to practice with during that incredibly cheap period of the US military, they just ran through manuevers using guns mounted to golf carts. Then when the war was declared they were immediately jumped up from Guardsmen to frontline troops as even though they had next to no experience they were better and longer trained than the new recruits that dwarfed the previous standing army, Guardsmen included.
When they set sail for Algiers, my grandfather’s regiment had never set foot or operated the Sherman’s they were provided. Part of the reason the Vichy French had some minor successes early on in Algeria was due to US troops having zero or next to zero experience with the equipment they had been provided. After Algiers, my grandfather’s unit was viewed as experienced crack troops and they went on to do four more amphibious landings including Sicily, Salerno, Anzio and Southern France. They were repeatedly inserted into the frontline including being removed from fighting in the mountains in Cassino to take part in the second Italian landing at Anzio.
After landing in Southern France, the Americans quickly swept aside all defenses and moved into Germany in record time. That southern push called Operation Dragoon was so successful that you never read about it in history books (Allied forces lost 26k to the German’s 159k). Then they continued fighting all the way to Germany.
Over the course of his 3 years of nearly continuous combat, he lost 5 tanks and twice he was the only survivor (2 to hidden 88 antitank guns, 1 to a Tiger tank, 1 to a JU-87 Stuka and 1 to friendly fire from an American B-26). Of his entire company, he was one of only 4 to make it through the entire war from beginning to end with the rest killed, injured or discharged for psychiatric reasons.
And part of the reason I enjoy Fury so much is that growing up listening to his war stories and the tactics they used to take on much stronger Tigers and hidden German strongpoints matched the action shown in Fury 100%. The scene where the tanks take on the lone Tiger was practically stolen from my grandfather’s war stories.
JoJo Rabbit was fantastic as well. I didn’t include it because although set in WW2 I don’t consider it a “WW2 movie”. But I ranked my favorite movies of all time in a separate thread and JoJo Rabbit made my top 25.
I'm basically with you. There were two things going for it in my opinion, the magic trick of the filming, and the way it depicted the trenches and overall landscape of the war.
However, the story is somewhere ranging between thin to stupid, and gets thinner as it goes on. And the central conceit of the filming, that you cover 24 hrs+ in a "real time" shot falls apart precisely because there isn't enough there there in the narrative. There isn't enough story to distract you from watching the trick.
I'd say up to the plane crash I was fairly well with it, but after that I got slowly less invested in the story, which was basically non-existent for the back half, and was spending most of the time trying to identify the cuts, being impressed with how they cut, trying to calculate the passage of time and how it was working, etc. The fact that I was mostly occupying myself with those things is a testament to the technical prowess of the filmmaking, but a strong indictment of the film.
To be a truly great film, I'd have to have been so invested that the other stuff fell into my subconscious, and it never did.
However, the story is somewhere ranging between thin to stupid, and gets thinner as it goes on. And the central conceit of the filming, that you cover 24 hrs+ in a "real time" shot falls apart precisely because there isn't enough there there in the narrative. There isn't enough story to distract you from watching the trick.
I'd say up to the plane crash I was fairly well with it, but after that I got slowly less invested in the story, which was basically non-existent for the back half, and was spending most of the time trying to identify the cuts, being impressed with how they cut, trying to calculate the passage of time and how it was working, etc. The fact that I was mostly occupying myself with those things is a testament to the technical prowess of the filmmaking, but a strong indictment of the film.
To be a truly great film, I'd have to have been so invested that the other stuff fell into my subconscious, and it never did.
OP has a fair assessment of the movie. WWI movies aren't done very often so I think that is what a lot of the attraction was. Plus, the cinematography was really good. Not much for story or character development though.
There's a reason I haven't ever had the desire to watch the movie again. It was good to watch once in the theater, but it's just not entertaining enough for multiple viewings.
There's a reason I haven't ever had the desire to watch the movie again. It was good to watch once in the theater, but it's just not entertaining enough for multiple viewings.
I thought that I'd watched this movie but only as I proceeded through the posts that I realized I actually only watched about half of it (I recall shooting the german pilot scene) and turned it off. Frames were nice and bright but the movie was underwhelming like OP and others already noted. On a related note, i think Parasite was another movie that came out same year and was another POS that i stopped watching half-way.
I don't understand how anyone could turn either of those movies off halfway through. What movie holds your attention? Chipmunks Take Manhattan?
i confess to have watched a chipmunks movie in its entirety.
that said, it may just be that i've crossed some invisible threshold in life-experience where shiny trinkets and other bs turn me off.
i confess to have watched a chipmunks movie in its entirety.
Hollywood is one giant shiny trinket. I'm just relieved when it isn't another super hero movie.
Parasite wasn't my type of movie but evidently some people thought it was really good. I think it speaks to how much of a down year for movies that year was that it won. I can't think of another movie that I thought got royally screwed. I mean, I would have voted for a different film, but I don't think there was a clear winner.
Parasite was a good movie, and the kind of movie I enjoy. And it was really good...it just wasn't THAT special. It caught the class warfare zeitgeist and got the "woke points" curve and that's why it crossed over.
I enjoyed 1917. Sure some scenes were laid on thick but overall it was a good movie.
Lone Survivor was on the other night. Talk about laying it on thick. JFC.
Lone Survivor was on the other night. Talk about laying it on thick. JFC.
saw Lawrence of Arabia but will have to check out the other two.
Gallipoli also deserves a mention. Very few movies I've ever watched have been as heart wrenching as the General ordering the final charge.
Your grandfather was a very great man. Hopefully he had a peaceful life after the war. Personnel stories such as that can really make us appreciate movies that have a strong connection to people we care about. One of the reasons The Great Escape is on my list is because my grandfather was shot twice and captured by the Germans just before the Battle of the Bulge. Unfortunately he passed away before I was born but I find POW stories under German captivity interesting. In my view the Great Escape is a great movie by any standard but I also enjoy movies such as Hart's War which was decent but not in the same league because I think of grandpa.
Yeah its astonishing that the victory in southern France doesn't get more attention. Often barely even a mention in most histories. When the landings took place on August 15, 1944 the German Army was in full retreat from Normandy. Hitler permitted the German troops in the south and west of the country to retreat as well. However German troops mostly had to move on foot while us and the French were fully motorized and were able quickly overrun the Germans. In a short period of time about 130,000 POWs were taken.
My main issue with Fury was the final battle. Up to that point I thought the movie was decent, again we all have our preferences, but the last battle was just way too much Hollywood for me.
