« Reply #4 on: Saturday 25 January 20 13:36 GMT (UK) »
I have recently been to see this film. I think this will appeal to anyone who has ancestors who served or anyone with a particular interest in the Great War.
I jumped in startlement (as others did around me) several times during this film. This was due to sudden loud noises and some dramatic scenes. However, although there are scenes of blood/injury, dead bodies/horses, flies, rats etc, thankfully, overall I didn't find this film particularly gory.
I think the film does make you think though about the conditions the soldiers endured and how trapped they were in having to follow orders, come what may. Although, he only has a relatively small part, what a presence on the screen Benedict Cumberbatch has! He is very convincing in his role of a cold, autocratic type committed to his responsibility for ordering men over the top to face death full on.
When I first started out researching my Great War ancestors (I later got interested in this period in general) I used to think in the terms that were used back then .. so and so 'made the Great Sacrifice' or words to that effect. As though they had much say in the matter. However, I now think in terms of that they were 'sacrificed'. There is a difference. I do not know how they coped either with the realisation that were now just a number in the objective of winning the war. An expendable number at that. In the film there is one character who is particularly cynical and vocal about this. I suspect there would have been a great many like this at that time even though it would have been totally unacceptable view to overtly ascribe to.
Conroy, Fitzpatrick, Watson, Miller, Davis/Davies, Brown, Senior, Dodds, Grieveson, Gamesby, Simpson, Rose, Gilboy, Malloy, Dalton, Young, Saint, Anderson, Allen, McKetterick, McCabe, Drummond, Parkinson, Armstrong, McCarroll, Innes, Marshall, Atkinson, Glendinning, Fenwick, Bonner