History Film / NineteenSeventeen

Notably, the story is told in RealTime and shot and edited to look as if it were done in [[TheOner one take]] a la ''Film/{{Birdman}}'' or ''Film/{{Rope}}''.

* BadassMustache: General Erinmore has one, as do various sergeants and lieutenants in the Devonshires, seen preparing their men to go over the top. Colonel Mackenzie's is a fairly thin one, but does add to the air of authority that he carries.

Not to be confused with ''VideoGame/NineteenFortyTwo'' or ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour''.

'''Gen. Erinmore:''' Alive. And with your help, I’d like to keep it that way. But they’re walking into a trap. Your orders are to deliver a message calling off tomorrow morning’s attack. If you don’t, we will lose sixteen hundred men. Your brother among them.

* ArcSymbol: The color white is used throughout the movie to represent both death and hope. The white cherry trees are one of the first signs of the SaltTheEarth strategy employed by the German, but Blake points out that in the long run it will result in even more cherry trees growing in the area. [[spoiler: Blake gets progressively paler as he dies]]. Soon before that they find milk, which Schofield later gives to a woman with a baby along with all his rations, giving them a slightly better chance of living through the war. The white cherry flowers appear again when Schofield is floating down the river, signaling that he's made it to the woods and he's close to his goal; but first he has to literally swim through dozens of white, bloated, rotten corpses to make it out of the water. Finally, he has to race through the trenches of the Devons, which are dug in white soil, closing in on the end of his mission while surrounded by soldiers rushing towards certain death because he's too late to stop the first wave.

'''Gen. Erinmore:''' Alive. And with your help, I’d like to keep it that way. But they’re walking into a trap. Your orders are to deliver a message calling off tomorrow morning’s attack. If you don’t, we will lose sixteen hundred men. [[AdultFear Your brother among them.]]

** Several rats are seen during the film, including feasting on the corpse of a dead soldier and a black rat is seen setting off the trip wire in the German bunker. Rats were an infamous problem on the Western Front, with many reportedly growing as big as cats.

** [[spoiler:!Blake's]] face going white as flour when he is dying indicates that he's going into hypovolemic shock due to massive blood loss, the German's knife having likely pierced his descending aorta or inferior vena cava. The audience can see that he's bleeding badly from his stomach, but he's bleeding worse internally (look close and you can actually see his belly become distended from the internal bleed). The amount of time it takes for him to expire is also consistent with his injuries, instead of being drawn out or sped up for any dramatic effect.

** Colonel MacKenzie also qualifies for this trope as he even tells Schofield to leave him alone via bad language. Justified as MacKenzie is obviously disappointed his tactics have failed and his hopes on defeating the Germans have ended in shambles.

** Although Erinmore is presented as AnOfficerAndAGentleman, other soldiers note he hasn't seen the front, really.

-->'''Gen. Erinmore:''' You have a brother in the second battalion.\\

* ArmchairMilitary: As per real-life, all of the senior officers in the film, with the exception of Colonel Collins, are seen in bunkers behind the trenches, although they do try to maintain a good grasp of the situation and issue orders accordingly.

* BlackVikings: The film includes a noticeable amount of Black and Indian soldiers sprinkled among the British Army. In RealLife, Black soldiers primarily came from the West Indies and thus fought in their own West Indian regiments, while the Indian forces had already been withdrawn from the Western Front by 1917, though a few remained.

* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: [[spoiler: Blake and Schofield pull a German pilot out of a burning airplane, sparing him from being burned to death. The pilot responds by fatally stabbing Blake.]]

** Blake's face going white as flour when he is dying is the first stage of dying and death. The blood stops flowing and it causes the face to turn white upon death.

* ForTheEvulz: Captain Smith advises Blake to make sure there are witnesses when he gives Colonal Mackenzie the message to stop the attack because Mackenzie might choose to ignore them for this reason.
--> ''”Some men just want the fight.”''

* ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy: Schofield is shot at multiple times at close range, but never takes much of a hit. Justified in that the scene at the ruins of Ecoust was at night, with only flares for a light source.

* NotWhatISignedUpFor: Blake eventually apologizes to Schofield for picking him as his companion for the mission, saying he'd thought they were just wanted to do something mundane like unload supplies.

--> ''[[{{General Ripper}} ”Some men just want the fight.”]]''

--> [[{{General Ripper}}''”Some men just want the fight.”'']]

--> ''”Some men just want the fight.”''

* ForTheEvulz: Captain Smith advises Blake to make sure there are witnesses when he gives Colonal Mackenzie the message to stop the attack because Mackenzie might [[{{General Ripper}} choose to ignore them]].

* ForTheEvulz: Captain Smith advises Blake to make sure there are witnesses when he gives Colonal Mackenzie the message to stop the attack because Mackenzie might [[General Ripper choose to ignore them]].

* ForTheEvulz: Captain Smith advises Blake to make sure there are witnesses when he gives Colonal Mackenzie the message to stop the attack because Mackenzie might choose to ignore them for this reason.

* ForTheEvulz: Captain Smith advises Blake to make sure there are a witnesses when he gives Colonal Mackenzie the message to stop the attack because Mackenzie might choose to ignore them for this reason.

* ForTheEvulz: Captain Smith advises Blake to make sure there are a witnesses when he gives Colonal Mackenzie the instructions to stop the attack because Mackenzie might choose to ignore them for this reason.

* ForTheEvulz: Captain Smith advises Blake to make sure there are a witnesses when he gives Colonal Mackenzie the instructions to stop the attack because he believes Mackenzie might choose to ignore them for this reason.

* ForTheEvulz: Captain Smith advises Blake to make sure there are a witnesses when he gives Colonal Mackenzie the instructions to stop the attack because he might choose to ignore them for this reason.

--> ''”Some men just want the fight”''.

--> ''Some men just want the fight''.

*** He tragically gets stabbed by a German pilot that he tried to save.

*** Blake and Schofield take their chances based on uncertain reports of a relatively safe route

** Captain Smith is patient, and concerned upon meeting Schofield, and does his best to accommodate him, while seeming fairly at ease with his own men.
** Major Hepburn mentions that Lieutenant Blake is the kind of man to accompany his men over the wall, right into the thick of things [[spoiler: and when we see Lieutenant Blake, he is helping some of his wounded men back to the medical tent while offering them reassuring words. Blake is clearly bleeding from a head wound, but is more concerned with making sure his own men [[GreaterNeedThanMine are taken care of first]] at the regimental aid post.]]

** Schofield badly cutting his hand on rusty barbed wire and moments later accidentally forcing that hand into a rotting corpse gets presented as meaningful, but it ultimately never comes up again. It's an apparent reference to Sam Mendes's grandfather, who provided the inspiration for the film and became a compulsive hand-washer as a result of his wartime experience.

** [[spoiler:When Schofield stumbles upon a female French civilian who's caring for an orphaned infant, she asks him if he has any children of his own. Schofield doesn't answer, but the glimpse we get of the photo he carries with him at the end shows that he does.]]

** Early at the front line, two stretch bearers carry a soldier who is badly wounded in the head, before we see others also wounded in dressings. This obviously foreshadows the dangers the two friends face.
** As the two heroes cross No Man's land several men are seen lying dead with many decomposing, implying they were killed in the last conflict. [[spoiler:This foreshadows Blake's death.]]
* ForWantOfANail: Blake insists on leaving immediately upon getting their orders, as General Erinmore indicated they should, while Schofield wondered if they should wait until dark. It is left to the audience to decide how different things might have gone if they had left later. If they had waited then [[spoiler:they wouldn't have encountered the pilot who ended up killing Blake, and might not have had the delaying encounter with the sniper]]. Although on the other hand, they would have been traveling much slower through the dark, would have had far less time to make it to the Second Devons Battalion's camp and wouldn't have [[spoiler:gotten a lift from Captain Smith's truck which, while brief, potentially saved a couple of hours of traveling on foot]].

* GloryHound: Captain Smith warns Schofield that Colonel Mackenzie is very motivated to attack, and cautions him to give Mackenzie the orders to retreat with witnesses. [[spoiler: Ultimately Downplayed. Whilst Mackenzie does indeed take a bit of convincing, he ultimately cancels the attack. What Smith sees as Mackenzie's hunger for glory is at least partly motivated by Mackenzie's impatience with the prolonged conflict and frustration with the high command's constant indecisiveness. Of course the colonel seems very keen to push for that decisive killer blow, but he understands the folly of sending his men into a potentially costly trap; and one of the witnesses present thanks Schofield for talking the colonel down.]]

%% HoistByHisOwnPetard: [[spoiler: It was Blake's insistence to rescue the German pilot that caused him to get fatally stabbed by said man that resulted in his death.]]

* HopeIsScary: [[spoiler:Makenzie mentions that "Hope is a dangerous thing" after accepting orders to stop the attack.]]
* HumansAreBastards: Not discussed but shown. Mendes states that his intention was [[https://www.npr.org/transcripts/790328406 to show how much damage we were causing to the environment with our destruction of the world]] by contrasting beautiful images of nature with the damage of war, and that at the end of the day, nature will win out, laughing at us.
* ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy: Schofield is shot at multiple times at close range, but never takes much of a hit.
* InevitableWaterfall: [[spoiler:Schofield jumps into a river to escape the German soldiers at Ecoust, and soon takes a plunge down a waterfall. Fortunately, this helps him lose his pursuers, and he soon makes it out no worse for wear.]]
* {{Irony}}: Blake is chosen for the mission both for his navigational skills and the personal stake he has in seeing it succeed. (His brother is an officer in the unit that is about to be wiped out.) Schofield, meanwhile, is chosen by Blake for a companion simply because they are friends and Blake thought they had something good coming their way, like being sent behind the lines to be fed. [[spoiler: Blake is killed early on, and Schofield is the one who has to move heaven and earth to see that the job is done.]]
* ItsPersonal: Part of the reason Blake was chosen for the mission was because his brother was a platoon leader in the 2nd Devons, and as such would be among the troops going over the top into the German trap if the orders calling off the attack are not delivered on time, giving the Corporal a personal incentive to make sure the mission succeeds.

** Lieutenant Leslie is openly dismissive of the mission, crass, and mockingly baptizes the two soldiers for their suicide mission. It's made clear he's seen far too much fighting.

** When Schofield enters Croisilles Wood, there is no patrol around to pick him up as everyone is listening to the singer.
* MirroringFactions: When Blake and Schofield explore the German barracks, they see pictures of loved ones and a girl's name written on the wall, things they would likely find in a British trench as well.
* MobstacleCourse: [[spoiler: Schofield]] makes it to the Second Battalion, but the trenches are full of troops preparing to attack. He has to push past 300 yards trench and men all the way to [[spoiler: Colonel Mackenzie]]. {{Exaggerated}}, when he opts to brave [[spoiler: running across the open battlefield as a shortcut to the colonel to avoid the crowded trench. Even then, he has to weave between charging soldiers on his own side.]]

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: [[spoiler: The reconnaissance planes that shoot down the German pilot]]. Inadvertently put a major threat right into Blake and Schofield's laps.

* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: [[spoiler: Blake and Schofield pull a German pilot out of a burning airplane, sparing him being burned to death. The pilot responds by fatally stabbing Blake.]]

* ObviousTrap: Lieutenant Leslie is highly skeptical of news of the German retreat. Pointing out that the German's trap should have been obvious to figure out, as countless men have died for a few inches of land, so they obviously wouldn't suddenly give up miles to the enemy. This is something Colonel Mackenzie evidently did not take into account when he saw an opening to gain ground and attack.

** Captain Smith. Concerned with both the importance of the mission and Schofield's well being.

* TheOnlyOne: Blake is entrusted by General Erinmore to deliver a message to his brother who is in another front several miles away along with Schofield. [[spoiler:Schofield though is left as the sole man to fulfill the mission after Blake gets murdered.]]
* PointyHairedBoss: Colonel Collins, arguably. His subordinate, Captain Smith is introduced surveying the farmhouse around the crashed plane with his men, offers some useful aid to the mission, and also inquires about its purpose and destination. Colonel Collins, on the other hand, is seen staying in his staff car, squawking out orders to try and remove an obstacle from the road and asking if there's a way around when there obviously isn't, and while he agrees to let Schofield ride in the truck with the men, he does it absently and with little to no curiosity about his objective and destination.
* PreciousPhoto: [[spoiler:It's revealed that Schofield has a wife and child, and carries a photo of them around that pleads with him to "Come Back To Us."]]

* RuleOfThree: The two British planes are seen three times by Blake and Schofield. The third time [[spoiler: they shoot down a German plane that crashes into the farm where the soldiers are and ultimately leads to Blake's death.]]

* ShellShockedVeteran: Captain Ivins, whose brief screen-time (which keep in mind takes place before the attack has even properly begun) has him shaking, sobbing and unable to understand or give any orders when Schofield tries to give General Erinmore's message to him. Schofield himself also counts as this, as he's become significantly more [[KnightInSourArmor jaded]] due to his experiences in the war. Going by dialogue, he survived the Battle of the Somme.
* ShooOutTheClowns: [[spoiler: The loss of Blake. The film is a fairly serious, character-driven affair but Blake is far more jovial and upbeat than Schofield, and keen to tell the latter a darkly amusing tale about how a fellow soldier lost an ear. Schofield later notes Blake had a knack for telling funny stories.]]

** Several rats are seen during the film including feasting on the corpse of a dead soldier and a black rat is seen setting off the trip wire in the German bunker. Rats were an infamous problem on the Western Front, with many reportedly growing as big as cats.
** The Germans were viciously pragmatic in their scorched earth, killing cattle to deny troops easy food, destroying their artillery and booby-trapping their fortifications to prevent them from being exploited by the British, even chopping down trees to delay advancing troops, stalling them for their trap.

* StiffUpperLip: Both the explanation of the mission's high stakes and the soldiers' acceptance of it are taken with traditional British restraint. When Captain Smith learns of [[spoiler:Blake's death]], his simple advice to Schofield is, "Don't dwell on it."
* StrongFamilyResemblance: [[spoiler: As he is dying, Blake explains to Schofield he'll be able to find his older brother because he looks just like him (Blake).]]
* SuicideMission: While the higher-ups downplay the dangers of the mission, Lieutenant Leslie certainly thinks this way about the assignment.
* TacticalWithdrawal: The 2nd Devons Battalion is prepared to attack to finish the Germans off, but General Erinmore receives photographic evidence that the German retreat was actually a tactical withdrawal.

** [[spoiler:If Blake simply saw reason and listened to Schofield's suggestion to wait until nightfall then he might have not have died.]]

* NotSoDifferent: When Blake and Schofield explore the German barracks, they see pictures of loved ones and a girl's name written on the wall, things they would likely find in a British trench as well.

* UngratefulBastard: The German pilot, who [[spoiler:fatally stabs Blake right after he and Schofield save him from his crashed burning airplane. Judging by his panicked babbling after they lay him on the ground, he seems to be too rattled by the crash and flames to be thinking very clearly]]. Likewise Colonel MacKenzie also qualifies for this trope as he even tells Schofield to leave him alone via bad language. Justified as MacKenzie is obviously disappointed his tactics have failed and his hopes on defeating the Germans have ended in shambles.