1917 is a 2019 war film directed and produced by Sam Mendes, who co-wrote it with Krysty Wilson-Cairns. Partially inspired by stories told to Mendes by his paternal grandfather Alfred about his service during World War I,[6] the film takes place after the German retreat to the Hindenburg Line during Operation Alberich, and follows two British soldiers, Will Schofield (George MacKay) and Tom Blake (Dean-Charles Chapman), in their mission to deliver an important message to call off a doomed offensive attack. Mark Strong, Andrew Scott, Richard Madden, Claire Duburcq, Colin Firth, and Benedict Cumberbatch also star in supporting roles.

The project was announced in June 2018, with MacKay and Chapman signing on in October and the rest of the cast joining the following March. Filming took place from April to June 2019 in the UK, with cinematographer Roger Deakins and editor Lee Smith using long takes to have the entire film appear as two continuous shots.

On 6 April 1917, aerial reconnaissance has observed that the Imperial German Army, which has pulled back from a sector of the Western Front in northern France, is not in retreat but has made a strategic withdrawal to the new Hindenburg Line, where they are waiting to overwhelm the British with artillery. In the British trenches, with field telephone lines cut, two young British lance corporals, William Schofield, a veteran of the Somme, and Tom Blake, are ordered by General Erinmore to carry a message to Colonel Mackenzie of the 2nd Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment, calling off a scheduled attack the next morning that would jeopardise the lives of 1,600 men, including Blake’s brother Joseph, a lieutenant.

Schofield and Blake cross no man’s land to reach the abandoned German trenches, but Schofield injures his left hand along the way. In an underground barracks, they discover a tripwire set by the Germans, which is promptly triggered by a rat; the explosion almost kills Schofield, but Blake saves him, and the two escape. They arrive at an abandoned farmhouse, where a German plane is shot down in a dogfight with Allied aircraft. Schofield and Blake save the burned pilot from the wreck. Blake persuades Schofield to get water for the pilot. When Schofield’s back is turned, the pilot stabs Blake. Schofield shoots the pilot dead and comforts Blake as he dies, promising to complete the mission and to write to Blake’s mother. Taking Blake’s rings and dog tag, as well as Erinmore’s letter, he is picked up by a passing British unit.