Sam Mendes is a director whose name alone should get people in the theater, what with his Oscar winning work on American Beauty and of course Skyfall. His latest could not have our anticipation meter higher, judging by its first trailer released by Universal today.
The picture takes place in the titular year of 1917 during World War I and follows two young soldiers as they have to venture through no-man’s land and enemy territory to reach a fellow British regiment who are about to march into a trap that will be a “massacre,” that in the worlds of star Colin Firth. The two lads who are our leads are Dean-Charles Chapman from Game of Thrones and Captain Fantastic’s George MacKay. If they fail, 1,600 British soldiers will certainly perish.
The all-star cast also includes Mark Strong, Benedict Cumberbatch, Richard Madden, Andrew Scott, Daniel Mays, Jamie Parker, Nabhaaz Rizwan, Claire Duburcq and Adrian Scarborough.
The headline here, for me besides Mendes’ name, is the cinematographer … Oscar winner Roger Deakins.
1917 looks like an incredible, suspense riddled drama that shines a light on the horrors of the first World War, something that has happened too infrequently of late. After witnessing Peter Jackson’s They Shall Not Grow Old, it is a landscape that is ripe for storytelling so as we don’t forget, sure, but also so we don’t repeat the lessons of the past. The film lands on Christmas Day to qualify for awards consideration, then goes wide on January 10, 2010.