1917: One-Shot Through an Uncanny Valley

Analyzing Sam Mendes’s one-shot technique in 1917 and evaluating its narrative weaknesses (contains spoilers)

As it snowballs through award season, Sam Mendes’s 1917 looks poised to take home Best Picture at the 92nd Academy Awards. Central to the film’s appeal is Roger Deakins’s cinematography and the usage of—you must have heard of it by now—the “one-shot.”

The creators crafted what appears to be a 119 minute-long single take, closely following Lance Corporals Tom Blake and Will Schofield as they trek through enemy territory to deliver an all-important message. This film is, without a doubt, technically impressive.

But what exactly does the one-shot achieve?

At times, the technique effectively drowns you in wartime anxiety. While most films use a mix of shot compositions and depths of field to unveil the story, the camera in 1917 places you right next to Blake and Schofield. You are the third Lance Corporal, and you don’t get to see the bigger picture. You must freeze with fear in the moments before a rat triggers the tripwire, and you must watch helplessly as a German pilot stabs Blake just a dozen meters away. Up close and intimate, with no cuts to punctuate the madness, the camera forces you to see war as you would…