esklepios 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.

mat-fletcher I like war movies so was particularly looking forward to this ww1 trench warfare epic however it is very, very boring.Essentially the story is centred around a young company commander who has previously been awarded the MC for some act of bravery that we don´t anything about, he spends his days just trying to get through it by drinking and obviously has minor to moderate PTSD.That´s it, nothing else really happens, he gets angry with his younger officers then he is nice to them again and then it is back to drinking and facing his demons.You can safely give this one a miss.

LouieInLove For those who think The Great War (or WWI) is out of contact, that those involved are all gone as are many of their children, think again. It's now 100 years since it ended but my Grandfather fought in it & I'm only in my late 30s.He died when I was three but I do have two vague memories of him. One where he was lifting me up & the other where I was stood holding onto his leg as he sat. The latter of these two memories is more vivid because I recall feeling a sunken hole in his leg. Years later I found out that this hole was due to an injury he sustained during the war - he was blown up. He survived but his commanding officer (who was stood next to him) died.My grandfather lay unattended for over a day. When he was eventually found he was close to death. Two German POWs carried the stretcher that took him to safety with my Grandfather occasionally having to raise his arm to show life in order to prevent them dumping him onto a corpse pile.After the war he became a miner & it was this profession that had its hands on his eventual death (lungs). This film concentrates on the officer-class (as do the majority of films about The Great War). Nevertheless, I understand this, for there is no Hollywood glamour in being working class rank & file, but, it was the rank & file who truly bore the brunt of trench warfare & I wish their stories were truthfully told - It is no coincidence that a huge surge in the Labour/socialist movement followed WWI. Working class bitterness towards the elite classes after this war was warranted & it's a disgrace that contemporary upper class historians (Dan Snow) attempt to dilute elite class responsibility for the horrors of WWI. The actors in this film do a good job. The story runs smoothly & is accessible. The actors

owanitall I want to start by saying that this film should not have been given the R rating. There is less fighting than in most superhero movies and no gore. It is, however, very distressing. Because it's very very good. It left me shaken and stayed with me for a long time. I felt it work not only on mental and emotional, but also on sensory level. There is no title and no credits in the beginning. The soldiers and officers start marching towards the front line, the camera focuses on faces, such melancholy in the eyes. And the music comes in - a low string melody that filled my whole being with the sense of dread. It never lets go. The score is absolutely brilliant. As is the acting. Especially the acting. Sam Claflin plays Captain Stanhope in whose PTSD "P" stands for not just "post", but "present", "persistent", "pervasive". The horror he's seen in 3 years at war is compounded by responsibility for those under his command with very little control over their fates. He barely eats or sleeps, but drinks practically all the time and lashes out at those closest to him. Yet it gradually becomes clear that while other officers and higher ups have detached themselves from those underneath them, he can't and won't. His decency and guilt is what's tearing him apart. It's a heartbreaking, riveting, Oscar caliber performance. But to be fair, if there's ever a film deserving a SAG Best Ensemble award, this is the one. Paul Bettany is great as calm and calming Osbourne. Asa Butterfield - perfect as naive Raleigh. Ditto Tom Sturridge as falling apart ex-playboy Hibbert, Stephen Graham as simple, always eating Trotter, Toby Jones as Mason the cook, much more than a comic relief as he witnesses what wasn't meant for him to see, Andy Gathergood as Sergeant Major who has barely any lines, but whose eyes say so much. In fact, everyone's eyes. This is something that cannot be achieved on stage - close ups on the eyes that silently scream what societal norms don't allow to be said out loud.There is a saying that goes something like this, "When one person dies, it's a tragedy. When thousands do, it's statistics." The power of this film is that when "Spring Offensive" statistics appear on the screen in the end, it feels like 700,000 tragedies.