1917 is Britain’s WW1 answer to Saving Private Ryan; replacing the guts and gore with intensity and emotion. When deciding how I feel about a war film it’s never about enjoyment, usually it’s about my level anxiety or the speed of my heart rate as I walk out the cinema doors. If I’m measuring this one in such a way I’d say it was a 10/10.

Following the story of William Schofield making his way across the battlefields on a bloody and impossible mission was nothing more than 1 hours and 59 minutes of inhaled breath and squinted eyes. Yet it was nothing short of incredible. The faces of the quintessentially British, male actors such as Colin Firth, Benedict Cumberbatch and Richard Madden pale in importance next to George Mackay’s performance. A face unbeknown to me before tonight, yet one I feel I can now never forget. The camera pans every step alongside his character and the relationship formed between the audience and him on screen is tangible; you find yourself mirroring every sharp intake of his breath, flinching at every bullet shot his way and wanting to cry with every bit of frustration felt as he’s stopped in his tracks.

1917, just as I felt walking out of Dunkirk, left me in awe of the scale and sheer incomprehension of the reality of war. World Wars are what we learn about in history books, are phrases we throw around in memes and tweets, yet watching a film such as this reminds us they are concepts we can never understand. Men, conscripted or voluntary, dedicate their lives to a cause, they find solace in the camaraderie that then leaves them vulnerable to more pain and loss.

A film about brotherhood and determination 1917 is one that definitely needs to be watched in the cinema, as I feel the small screen will detach viewers from its intensity and do it an injustice. Acting, directing, lighting and sound – every aspect of it reminds us of the individual lives we now talk about as masses and numeric figures, it tells us a story not in a Hollywood, unbelievable way but in a raw experience which takes it from story to reality.