Journey's End

Decided to watch this with my 13 year old son as he's learning about WW1 at school and I thought this may give him an insight as to how trench warfare would have felt for the men involved. He is a massive fan of all action cinema/TV from LOTR to GOT, and although I was completely involved in the film and felt the despair of every man on the front line, I feared that Zach might be disinterested as it was far more atmospheric than all out action. When we discussed certain aspect during the film he told me that his heart rate had been at about 120 bpm all the way through and that he was loving it. Tells you everything you need to know about this film. As stated before, this is not a war film, but a film about war and we loved it.

What a contrast to so much mediocrity and worse eg. Dunkirk. Set in the trenches in March 1918 but not really about the trenches or March 1918 at all.

Superbly cast and acted, a beautifully written reflection of a junior officer's view of the penultimate stages of WW1. Even more, this is a beautifully written reflection on the human spirit in adversity. Of course some of the senior officers are somewhat caricatured - that is what happens in real life. Of course it becomes more and more difficult with the passage of time for people to understand the mentality of empire, the public schoolboy ethos embodied by Raliegh, Maybe the same bravado and fear affects people joining violent gangs - I know not - but Raleigh is about the same age as some gang members - 18/19. Stanhope at 21/22 is a veteran of war, Uncle (Osborne - quite possibly early 30s) almost a veteran of life in their eyes.

Of course such characters have been used in films since - but this was written in 1928. It cut the new ground - others have followed.

The Roman Horace said "Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori." and it took until WW2 for Patton to say "The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his." But what about sending your friends, your very best friends, your nearest and dearest to near certain death. What does that "do" to a man. Stanhope knows and through this film we can maybe glimpse that horror. What happens when there is no "cunning plan" left. Uncle knew.

Hold them off for as long as you can. In 1914, in 1918 when Journey's End is set, and again at Dunkirk ordinary men really did. No doubt there are countless other examples both before and in the last 70 years.

This film is a fitting tribute to those men.

Ever watch a movie that was so good, so well done that it ceases to be theater - it seems real? That's the feeling one gets watching director Saul Dibb's "Journey's End", a masterpiece on several different levels. The actors are superb, the sets unsettlingly authentic and with a spellbinding screenplay, despite taking place mainly in a wartime trench. The ominous background score heightens the film's feeling of impending tragedy.

It is WWI in 1918, somewhere on 'The Front'. The commanding officer is Capt. Stanhope (Sam Claflin), who apparently suffers from battle fatigue as he tries to keep his men, as well as himself, from feeling the effects of the growing despair that grips his company as they await the German's massive attack which has been foretold by a captured German soldier. Director Dibb captures the emotional tone in the claustrophobic officers dugout as we learn the motivations as well as the mental aspect of each. And there is no thought, of course, of a wise retreat.

"Journey's End" is more evidence of how european filmmaking has eclipsed that of the U.S. American studios are too timid to back a film considered too daring and that would break the mold of the cookie-cutter stories emanating from its assembly line. So, those of us interested in excellence in film must forage around. My star rating is in the heading as the website no longer prints mine.

Aisne 1918, Officer Stanhope is in charge of a group of men, who are in a bunker, awaiting a heavy German attack, only Stanhope's mental health is declining rapidly.

I've grown so accustomed to big budget war films, and there are many I have loved, Journey's End may not match them on special effects or extras or lavish battle scenes, but one thing it does have, is an incredible story.

The story of the mental decline of the leading man, Officer Stanhope, who's trying hard to keep it together in an impossible situation, alcoholism and paraboia. It's almost impossible to put yourself in place if one of those men, and imagine the torment, waiting to be attacked whist in a confined space.

A wonderful mix if characters, from the struggling Hibbert, to the avuncular Osborne, and of course the sarcastic Mason, all I kept thinking of was Baldrick from Blackadder 4, some wonderful, sharp one liners.

What a wonderful cast here, Paul Bettany, Stephen Graham, Toby Jones and many more, all spot on, very sincere performances, characters you can actually believe in.

It's subtle, no heavy accompanying music, no lavish special effects, it relies instead on the art of storytelling. They got the claustrophobia of the trenches spot on, as you watch you almost feel short of oxygen.

I thought this was quite an impressive film.

9/10.

I just want to provide a quick calibration of what people should expect from this movie because some of the reviewers seem to have had a misconception of what this movie was supposed to be about. This is not a war movie - it's a movie about war. Specifically, the affects of trench warfare on a group of soldiers. Too that end, the movie is absolutely brilliant from the moment it begins to the moment it ends. You will not see long drawn out battle scenes, hand to hand combat, fire-fights, bloody carnage or anything else you've recently seen in Hacksaw Ridge, Lone Survivor or Fury. What you will see is the persistent and inevitable deterioration of the innocence and humanity of the characters as their fate, which they all know is coming, slowly but surely creeps up on them from one day to the next. Many other reviewers have used the term, "disturbing", to describe this movie and I agree 100%. It is highly disturbing, on a psychological level. You won't leave this movie feeling good or motivated to join the military; you will leave it with a loss to understand why humanity ends up in situations like this to begin with.