Men of Honor

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.

"Journey's End" takes place in the trenches of the Western Front in 1918. It was originally a very successful stage play in 1928 starring Lawrence Olivier in what must have been one of his first leading roles. In 1930 a film version was produced, one of the earliest British "talking pictures", directed by James Whale and starring Colin Clive (soon thereafter both were to re-team in the memorable films, "Frankenstein" and "Bride of Frankenstein).

The above is worth pointing out because the 1930 version which is still available for viewing on Youtube, makes an interesting comparison with this current production of the same story. That is because, meticulous as this production is, it was produced a century after the events depicted in the film. To the makers of this version, this material is ancient history. To the makers of the 1930 version, it was only a dozen years ago. Indeed, James Whale, who directed the 1930 film, actually had been a British officer on the Western Front during World War I. Consequently, to him, getting the details and the atmosphere right was not a matter of researching historical records, he had only to search his own memory.

Apart from the color photography and the differences in acting styles, one big difference is that the 1930 version had a lot more humor in. While the 2017 version seems unrelentingly grim, the characters in the 1930 version exhibit a lot more of the sort of dark humor that one might expect from troops in the front lines. It is almost as though that aspect of the play did not occur to the director, or else he had simply ignored it. Either that, or perhaps that sort of humor is now considered "politically incorrect".

Nevertheless, "Journey's End" is a highly evocative depiction of the Great War, and well worth seeing in this, the centennial of the end of "The War to End ALL Wars".

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.

"Journey's End" makes for a claustrophobic and tense movie experience. It's quite clearly a film adaptation of a stage play, but it's a surprise (to me at least) that the stage play - penned by R.C. Sherriff - dates back to 1928 and was first performed in London by a young Laurence Olivier.

You might say "A filmed stage play? Hm... I'm not sure about that". But actually, it works really well, adding brilliantly to the claustrophobic nature of the piece but - more importantly - largely eschewing "action scenes" to focus in on the dramatic relationships between the officers in their dugout and the men in the trenches above.

The plot is a simple one. Set in the spring of 1918 (arguably, the movie might have been even more powerful had its release been delayed by about 6 weeks), Captain Stanhope (Sam Claflin, "Me Before You", "Their Finest") leads a company of men marching into position in a trench near Saint-Quentin, Aisne for a six-day tour of duty. Given they are one of 1,800 such companies on the Western Front, it's unfortunately their bad luck that the German's "spring offensive" is forecast to happen imminently. As Stanhope's CO (the excellent Robert Glennister, "Live by Night", TV's "Hustle") makes clear, and as the film's title might also suggest, this is forecast to be a one-way trip.

With immaculate timing, squeaky-keen young recruit Lieutenant Raleigh (Asa Butterfield, "Hugo") uses his brass-connections to join the company, since he knows Stanhope from his schooldays. Indeed, Stanhope is his sister's beau. But Raleigh soon discovers that Stanhope is no longer the 'affable chap' he was....

Butterfield is marvelously cast as the perky new recruit, all wide-eyed and eager on arrival but completely ill-equipped for what he is to see and experience in a confined society being stretched beyond breaking point. Claflin as well is superb, and must have spent hours in front of a mirror trying to perfect his haunted expression. The range of emotions he delivers through those eyes is just extraordinary. Finally rounding out the star-turns of the officers are Paul Bettany ("Avengers: Age of Ultron") as the avuncular Osborne and Tom Sturridge ("Far From The Madding Crowd") as the shell-shocked and useless Hibbert.

Those of you familiar with the splendid "Black Adder Goes Forth" will know the comic role played by Tony Robinson as Baldrick with his strange culinary concoctions. In this film Toby Jones ("Atomic Blonde", "Dad's Army") fills that role and similarly has some comic lines to add - just a touch of - much needed light-relief to the tension.

The film has a necessarily melancholic feel, but (for me) it's rather over-egged by the sonorous cello score by Natalie Holt and Hildur Gudnadóttir. (Again, reflecting our different tastes, I'll point out that my wife found the music fitting and not as annoying and intrusive as I did).

Director Sean Dibb (Suite Française) has here delivered a tense and very well-executed movie that ably demonstrates the British "stiff upper lip" in public - and the weak whiskey-soaked psychosis in private - of men under the most unbearable stress imaginable. Recommended... but go expecting something that's more drama than World War One 'action'.

(For the full graphical review, please visit bob-the-movie-man.com. Thanks.)

I was fortunate enough to see the premiere of this film at the London Film Festival, and went in with no prior knowledge of the story or the characters, and was blown away by the impact this film has. Each actor suited their role perfectly, with Sam Claffin adding a smooth, sophisticated yet equally mysterious spin on the title character, Toby Jones adding fantastic one-liner humour to give the script more depth, and the other characters making the film's narrative put you on the edge of your seat. Usually I brush over war films, as I find the production and aesthetic quite similar. However, this film left me with lots of powerful thoughts and I am grateful to be one of the first to see it! Its now clear to see that this was based on a play, as the majority of the scenes were shot within the same set, with the focus on the characters' progression and the narrative as a whole, but this really worked! This is a film I highly recommend seeing- superb acting, released at a fitting time (its release being 100 years after the end of WW1), beautiful cinematography, a powerful script, and so much more! I will be seeing this again at the next given chance. So stop watching these big Hollywood remakes, be ready to be lost in the charm of this war film, and witness something quite special, that will hit you hard!- Sam Bishop