Rating - 4.5 stars out of 5
R.C. Sherriff’s 1928 play is filmed again by director Saul Dibb and with a fine British cast, and it remains pretty damn powerful even if some of its thunder has been slightly stolen by the mighty army of war movies that have come before.
- DM Bradley, Adelaide Review
Set over four days in March 1918 in the trenches on the front line, a small group of soldiers wait to be bombarded by enemy artillery, anticipating certain death. The story charts the tension and claustrophobia of the officers’ dug-out as new recruit, 18-year-old Lieutenant Raleigh joins the Company commanded by 20-year-old Captain Stanhope, his former childhood friend and hero, who has changed almost beyond recognition. Adapted from RC Sherriff’s play, the film stars Sam Claflin, Paul Bettany, Toby Jones and Asa Butterfield and is directed by Saul Dibb.
This film is expertly cast and really well acted: forthright, powerful, heartfelt. The dramatic action is opened out, while always conveying the essential, cramped claustrophobia of this tragic ordeal. Cinematographer Laurie Rose’s coolly observant, dynamic camerawork helps drive the dramatic momentum and the sinuous & haunting musical score by Hildur Guðnadóttir and Natalie Holt creates a growing sense of horror and dread.
Dibb and writer Simon Reade only give us small glimpses of this chaos, but do so very effectively. Other than a lone – and very short - drone shot, Dibb keeps his camera only a few feet from the bedlam. Without a clear view of the actions on the battlefield, the audience feels the soldiers’ confusion, and this bitter taste of war helps clarify the lingering, miserable atmosphere within the trenches. The only reprieve that we receive is from a cook named Mason (Toby Jones), who usually explains the latest bland meal with deadpan wit. For instance, Stanhope asks Mason about today’s soup, and he responds, “Yellow.”
Mason is a most-welcome gift as the sole provider of the movie’s very, very few light moments.
Regardless of the baggage this story brings with it, or that anyone in the audience might have, there are moments of real beauty in Dibb’s version. Bettany gives an exemplary performance, soft yet steady. The highlight of this whole production is a moment that he shares with Butterfield, minutes before they have to climb the wall, probably to their certain doom.
“Journey’s End” is a grim, affecting picture that does not shy away from the colourless life of trench warfare: waiting for horribly long stretches and then suddenly stepping into suicide missions composed of mud and gunfire. The movie is set exactly 100 years in the past, and this particular critic wondered if these men could imagine war in 2018. Can we imagine war in 2118? Well, today’s drone technology would make 1918 trench warfare tactics completely obsolete. Then again, war is war, and soldiers coping with fear and emotional scars unfortunately remain timeless tragedies. Its poetic title notwithstanding, “Journey’s End” suggests that, flowery invocations of glory, brotherhood and bravery aside, every foxhole is its own kind of grave.
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