1917 (2019) and some interesting articles about the Oscars

Last weekend I did go to see this and it was good; I liked it, even though it reminded me of Saving Private Ryan at times, but I like this movie much better. I'm not sure the "long take" style was absolutely necessary, but I did like this style because you feel like you're right there with the characters and see their point of view. I wish more movies were shot like this, actually. I don't think it's as easy to do as imagined.  My friend I was with said afterwards that it reminded him of Paths of Glory, a WWI film with Kirk Douglas (I haven't seen it yet). Both films might make for a good double feature.

It may win some Oscars this weekend and I think they'd be deserving. The set direction was very impressive.

Spoiler alert (skip this next paragraph if you haven't seen it). My main problem with the film is that I found it totally unbelievable that the things that the soldier carried in his pocket would survive everything he endured, including the trench collapse and the escape down the river (and the waterfall drop). No way the maps and letters and photos he had would survive after being water-soaked for so long, in my opinion. Unless they were in a steel case of some kind, but I missed that.

Also I liked seeing some soldiers of color in the film, though their appearances were brief. There was a Sikh soldier with a very small part and some speaking lines, which I appreciated seeing on film. His scene happens on the back of a truck which is one of my favorite parts. I like that scene because it shows the experience of one soldier - grieving the death of his friend -  coming into contact with another group with established comradery. Then he needs to jumps off the truck and we never see the others again.

It's a bit of an episodic film, and I liked that knowing that the film is based on the memories of director Sam Mendes' grandfather.

This is a good article from NBC News about the WWI contributions of Sikh soldiers.
Other bloggers who recently tackled this film
Just a Cineast - blog post
Two Dollar Cinema - blog post
Bobby Rivers - blog post

Cliched Monologues - blog post

Some other interesting articles I read recently:

Brutally Honest Oscar Ballot: '1917' Is "Gimmicky," Renée Zellweger "Nailed It"
(The Hollywood Reporter)
A male member of the Academy's producers branch, granted anonymity to speak freely, shares which films earned his precious vote (and why).

The Oscars' 'Harriet Tubman problem'
(CNN.com Opinions)
Joaquin Phoenix's impassioned BAFTA acceptance speech, in which he criticized the lack of diversity in filmmaking, showed the persistence of structural racism. Phoenix implicated himself before an overwhelmingly white, and largely stunned, audience -- and cast a strong spotlight on the lack of racial diversity in the nominations for this weekend's Academy Awards.