Mendes's 1917 will astonish and engage any viewer

Sam Mendes's new WWI movie, 1917, comes out of nowhere - has he ever in his long career done a movie so daring and innovative? - and will astonish and engage any viewer, no matter how many war movies you've seen, or missed. Who knows exactly what life was like on the front during this most brutal of wars (although hundreds of British writers have written about their war experiences, memories, or re-creations), but this movie feels about as authentic as you can get, as we follow two soldiers ordered on a dangerous mission: leaving the tenuous protection of the trenches and passing through the no-man's land between the English and German lines (in northern France) to carry a vital message to another company of English troops: the troops are about to make a daring assault on the Germans, but new intelligence shows they are walking into a German trap and the message ordering a halt to the English attack will save thousands of lives. Much has been said and written about the unusual camerawork in creating this movie, which begins with a single tracking shot that follows the 2 soldiers for by my measure about 65 minutes (and there are only maybe 2 or 3 shots in the final hour of the film as well). Mendes and his team deserve all the praise they're getting for this work, as the device makes us feel as if we're with these soldiers in real time, a third set of eyes as it were. They encounter, as you can imagine, several frightening obstacles and hazards in the course of their journey, as well as some encounters with soldiers and civilians that lead to some surprises, which I will not divulge. I really don't know how it was possible to make this film, but the camera work wasn't just showmanship - it is integral to the plot and the milieu of this film, making us feel that we're in danger, that we're holding our breath from moment to moment.