1917

Mrs maytrees and I went to see the film "1917" earlier this week at the Wimbledon HMV Curzon.

Interestingly despite the demise of HMV on two  floors, with the cinema on the third floor of the three storey building, the HMV Curzon is still going strong. Indeed we had expected to be able to  secure seats in the cinema's back row, which mrs maytrees likes, for the film, only to find that  1917 was so hugely popular, that we were fortunate to obtain tickets for seats at the last minute, let alone select where we could sit.

The film itself was riveting to watch. The story involved  twenty four hours  in the lives of two soldiers, Lance Corporals Schofield and Blake in April 1917.  The two soldiers were required to cross the German lines to reach British/Indian troops who were about to launch an huge attack on the Germans, believed for  reasons unknown to the British/Indian forces, to be retreating. The two lance corporals were required to warn them of the German retreat being but a trick to lure the British into attacking what would be a far superior German force of men, tanks and heavy guns. 

The Germans had during their "retreat" cut the  telephone cables but some photography seen only by Schofield/Blake's battalions, revealed that they were amassing weapons which could decimate the British should they seek to advance, following the  Germans' apparent retreat.

Having been volunteered by their Battalion's commander the lance corporals set off on their arduous journey. The film contained some horrific pictures of war and the carnage it brings. The task given to the two lance corporals was hugely difficult with the odds being heavily against them succeeding. 

In one graphic scene one of the two lance corporals  was killed but eventually the other made it to the relevant British lines. Persuading the officers there of the need to halt the imminent attack proved exceeding difficult as  the remaining lance corporal's news was simply not believed at first. 

Some parts of the counter attack did then appear to commence but the commanding officer upon reading the sealed orders that the surviving lance corporal eventually managed to deliver, did then, albeit  with great reluctance, order his troops back from their counterattack on the Germans.

A riveting film which illustrates all too graphically, the  hideous nature of  war.