1917: One of the best war films of all time is taken from a true story?

Released in February 2020, 1917 from Sam Mendes won 3 Oscars (best visual effects, photography and sound mixing). The film, which landed just before the Pandemic of Covid 19, met with a nice success with $ 446 million harvested internationally, for an estimated budget at 95 million. In France, he brought together 2.2 million curious people, a great success for a war film.

The story tells us about the course of Schofield and Blake, two young British soldiers caught in the turmoil of the First World War. They are assigned a mission strictly speaking impossible.

Bearers of a message that could prevent a devastating attack and the death of hundreds of soldiers, including Blake's brother, they embark on a real race against the clock, behind enemy lines.

1917 has a particularity of staging, wanted by Sam Mendes, that of giving the illusion of a long sequence. However, it was not filmed in a single plan, but in several long catches which were then mounted together to give the impression of a single scene.

Sam Mendes had used a similar process for the opening scene of 007 Specter, but using this device for an entire film was a new experience for him. Once this idea was validated, it was first necessary to determine the displacements of the actors in each scene, then precisely plan the device movements.

True or invented story?

Furthermore, is this ultra realistic story taken from a true story? Questioned by us when the film was released, Sam Mendes said he had drawn his inspiration from his family history; However, the story is not based on real and hard facts.

“My film does not relate the story of my grandfather, but rather endeavors to evoke his mind, what these men have undergone, their sacrifices, and their faith in a cause which exceeded them. My grandfather told me many stories when I was a child. But he never told these stories to his own children; my father never heard these stories.said the filmmaker.

My film does not relate the story of my grandfather, but rather endeavors to evoke his mind, what these men have undergone, their sacrifices, and their faith in a cause which exceeded them.

“My grandfather was a writer, he wrote his autobiography. And one of the stories present in it and that he told me, is that he had volunteered with a friend. He wanted to go to war, he thought it right. But when he found himself on the spot, he realized that propaganda matraquked by the British press was false. He was living in hell!”he continued.

War hero

“He also told us a story where he had to carry a message. I found this very cinematic story. From there, I built a story that is inspired by my grandfather, but it is not his own story. In the stories he made to us, human life had no price. In a war, you are constantly walking in the middle of the corpses. And you measure the narrow thread.he said.

From there, I built a story that is inspired by my grandfather, but it is not his own story. In the stories he made to us, human life had no price.

The director finally mentioned a significant anecdote. When he had to be 10 or 11 years old, he used to see his grandfather washing his hands constantly, for a long time. He then asked his father: “Why is Papy to wash his hands so much?”

“My father replied: because he remembers the mud of the trenches, he could never be clean”. It really struck me. He was a man then septuagenarian, and this TOC was part of him. He did not consciously think of the trenches. But the way he behaved showed a very marked man “he said.