It is made clear from the trailer that 2 men are selected to journey through what has become no man's land to deliver a vital message calling off an attack. While the time they have is more than enough to complete the journey, the mission stands on a knife's edge as encounters with foes and friends burn up priceless minutes. At one point it seems the mission has failed. It hasn't, but priceless hours have been lost.
The journey becomes an Odyssey.
While the narrative is fairly simple, the film shines in the hypnotic quality of placing the viewer in the moment. It conveys the claustrophobic quality of standing in the open in the middle of a war. Of trying to move forward in the face of continual danger. It is more an exercise in atmosphere than story. The cinematography is remarkable. The soundtrack is superb.
The couriers are the heart of the story. Firth, Strong and Cumberbatch are onscreen for so little time their roles are hardly more than cameos. Much of the story is trying to puzzle out what manner of men the couriers are. One, the new man who is good with maps, is an open book. The other, a decorated veteran who just happened to be close by, is a clam.
In the end the story hopes to evoke in the viewer some sense of what it was to be a veteran.
It's not a spectacular story, tho there are some spectacular sequences. It's not a haunting story, tho I think it wanted to be.
Should you go see it? I say yes.
NOTE: If you have any interest in seeing this film, do it now , in as enhanced a presentation technology as is available. This is a film that will lose a great deal on the small screen.
Just my tuppence.
adds an infantry platoon to his WWI Brits.
