1917

“We had to pay homage to the reality these men suffered. People lived this. It’s not a fantasy.” That’s one of the scriptwriters for 1917, and it neatly summarises my reservations about the film. I didn’t believe a word.

Early on, a senior officer conveniently maps out the journey our heroes will follow - “Go across no man’s land, through the town, follow the river and find the wood where the Devons will be. “ This all thanks to aerial reconnaissance, which somehow hasn’t noticed that the town is crawling with hostile troops. Worse still, they’re very close to the Devons, who are about to launch a doomed attack - but would in any case be immediately cut off as soon as they move.

Our two heroes have to carry this message on foot, because the telephone lines have been cut. But planes can apparently casually saunter over the terrain with very little risk of being shot down. Couldn’t they simply drop a message to the troops below?

In the town there’s a young woman looking after a baby. It’s an idyllic scene; candlelight, neatly made bed, an image of tenderness and love within the surrounding mayhem - and somehow none of the soldiers rampaging through the streets outside have managed to discover this?

At the end of the journey, the fated attack has just started - and already there are massive explosions and tons of casualties. But this is meant to be a trap. The Germans are luring the Brits into too hasty an advance, so that they can slaughter them further down the line. wouldn’t they make the early stages easy, by way of encouragement, to tempt the maximum number into charging on?

Sorry. I know it’s a brilliant piece of film-making, using considerable talents along the way, but I just couldn’t buy it. Little Women, on the other hand, I loved.