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1917
Movie

1917

2019 • Action, Drama, War

Woke Score
1.4
out of 10

Plot

April 1917, the Western Front. Two British soldiers are sent to deliver an urgent message to an isolated regiment. If the message is not received in time the regiment will walk into a trap and be massacred. To get to the regiment they will need to cross through enemy territory. Time is of the essence and the journey will be fraught with danger.

Overall Series Review

The film centers on a desperate mission undertaken by two British corporals through World War I's Western Front. The story is a straightforward account of courage, personal sacrifice, and the relentless horrors of war. The core dramatic engine is the loyalty between soldiers and the urgency of saving human life. The focus is almost exclusively on the male military experience in the trenches. The narrative avoids political lecturing, focusing instead on universal themes of duty, brotherhood, and survival. It depicts the carnage of the war with unflinching realism while celebrating the personal heroism of the common soldier.

Categorical Breakdown

Identity Politics2/10

The main characters are two white corporals, and the story is about their merit and commitment to duty, not their race or identity. The brief, small-scale inclusion of non-white soldiers, such as a Sikh soldier in a British regiment, is noted by some commentators as a historical inaccuracy for the sake of diversity, slightly deviating from a purely colorblind or historically authentic casting mandate. The overall plot remains entirely apolitical in its focus on identity and privilege.

Oikophobia2/10

The film avoids direct civilizational self-hatred by celebrating the courage and self-sacrifice of the British soldiers. The soldiers are fighting for each other and for their countrymen, representing a clear sense of duty and belonging. However, the film strongly condemns the futility and tragic incompetence of the high command and the war itself, which serves as a critique of the military leadership, not an outright vilification of the Western nation or heritage.

Feminism1/10

The film's setting on the front lines means women are almost entirely absent. The only significant female figure is a French woman protecting an orphaned baby in an abandoned city, a depiction that celebrates the protective and maternal role of women. The protagonist's personal motivation is shown to be his family, with the reveal of photos of his wife and daughter, establishing the traditional family unit as a positive, protective force and a source of motivation for masculine duty.

LGBTQ+1/10

The story contains no presence of alternative sexual ideologies, centering of non-normative sexualities, or discussion of gender theory. The narrative is entirely focused on the male-dominated, life-or-death mission. The ultimate goal of the protagonist is framed in terms of heterosexual nuclear family: getting home to his wife and daughter.

Anti-Theism2/10

There is no overt hostility toward religion or Christianity. The story implicitly champions objective virtues like courage, sacrifice, and duty. The personal motivations and acts of heroism are framed in a morally absolute context where saving 1,600 men is an undeniable good. Themes of deep personal sacrifice and redemption, even a subtle comparison of the hero to a Christ figure, are present in the film's subtext, upholding a transcendent moral law.