XIII Международная студенческая научная конференция Студенческий научный форум - 2021

The article attempts to identify and analyze the totality of themes and problems in the feature film “1917” by British director Sam Mendes.The feature film “1917” was released in the winter of 2019-2020 and immediately attracted critical acclaim [2]. “1917” is a 2019 epic war drama directed by Sam Mendes. The concise title of the film helps the viewer to determine its subject even before viewing: the First World War. This is a war that is considered to be one of the largest and bloodiest in history. Its significance for the British is about the same as the significance of the Great Patriotic War for the Russians [1]. That is why the First World War in Britain is called Great War. The director was faced with the task of creating a special, non-standard film, which will not be associated with something ordinary, but will leave an unforgettable impression.

The script is based on the story of how Lance Corporals Schofield and Blake are given an important order. The command of the second battalion decided that the enemy was retreating, and the soldiers chased the Germans, not knowing that the enemy troops were ready and waiting on the defensive line. The main characters were instructed to intercept the second battalion and warn about the upcoming ambush. The lives of 1,600 people are at stake, including Blake's brother. It is also impressive how different the main characters are. Schofield appears to the audience as a silent and calculating soldier, while Blake is extrovert and funny, but in the course of the film Schofield will become more like Blake, and Blake will become more like Schofield.

Why is the script built this way? Mendes made a bet on psychology, and not on the way of heroes. The relationship between Schofield and Blake is the most important in the plot. The main thing is not the fact of fulfilling the order, but how the view of each character will change during the joint journey. Before the operation begins, Blake is obsessed with saving the second battalion, and Schofield, a distinguished soldier, has no particular desire to follow orders. On the way, front-line comrades see the war with their own eyes in its most real manifestation: blood, many corpses, the smell of rot –

- We need to find another way otherwise we and your brother will die.

The artistic feature of the film “1917” is the imitation of shooting in one frame, that is continuous movement and development of events in almost real time. This is not done by chance, because time is one of the main problems raised in the film, which is reflected in the slogan for the film: “Time is the enemy”. Continuous shooting symbolizes the time that the characters pass. On the way to the rescue of the second battalion, time would be Schofield and Blake's main opponent, who could only hope that they would make it in time –

- I was hoping we were lucky today, but hope is a dangerous thing.

It would seem that 1,600 people are nothing compared to the figures of daily dying in the war, and the leadership could not give the order to save the second battalion, referring to the negligible number of people exposed to danger. This is the next problem that is considered in almost every military work – human life and its meaning. A person's life is worth fighting for, that is why after Blake's death Schofield did not lose heart, but continued on his way, and eventually saved 1,600 lives.

The other important problem raised in the film is the problem of the family during the war. There is no family that is not affected by the war. Millions of women with children in their arms were left waiting for their husbands from the front, not knowing whether they would return. At the very end of the film the viewer learns that Schofield has a wife and children, a photo of which he keeps in a tin can. The viewer realizes that the outwardly harsh and not too talkative man in the person of Schofield was always silent about the innermost, about what is most important to him in the world. This suggests that war changes a person’s actions and thoughts subordinating them to expectation, tension and fear of death, but war does not affect the essence of people, in the course of it the good becomes great, and the bad becomes terrible.

Thus, the feature film “1917” touches on important problems and pushes the viewer to the idea that a person's life has a great value. Even in war you need to be able to remain a person and equally appreciate the lives of loved ones and complete strangers.

References

1. Кан А. "1917" – частная история Великой войны неотрывным взглядом // BBC NEWS Русская служба. – URL: https://www.bbc.com/russian/features-50858943.

2. Лесин А. Фильм «1917»: рассказы дедушки Мендеса // Warspot. – URL: https://warspot.ru/16497-film-1917-rasskazy-dedushki-mendesa.