'71 Review: A Likely Soon To Be Underrated Classic

Similar to my comments regarding a recently released film entitled The Guest, Yann Demange's '71 comes across as a modern day action-thriller that's imbued with the essence of a 70's classic of the same genre. The first half of the film is filled to the brim with quiet character building slowly riding alongside a couple of tension driven moments all leading up to one extensive, nail biting, and jaw dropping rollercoaster of a second half. The action scenes alone left me paralyzed with equal amounts of fear and anticipation towards what was lurking around the corner for our protagonist. So,  despite having a very limited release, let's talk about what I hope to be a very highly regarded film in the years to come. 

We follow a young British soldier by the name of Gary Hook who gets unfortunately abandoned by his unit during a street riot in Belfast during 1971 (hence the title). Eventually, throughout the course of separation, he gets caught up in a frantic and paranoia inducing chase of survival against a mob hunting him down alongside traitors of his own military. Now just the story alone immediately catches my attention and can honestly stand on its own as a great short story or perhaps even collection of war journals to read on its own. However, the main highlight here isn't so much the story but the utterly brilliant and noteworthy visual direction. What director Yann Demange manages to craft here is an exceptionally filmed and jaw dropping war-thriller

Looking at this from a cinematic perspective from the heavy sepia tone color pallet to some of the downright brutal action scenes, I genuinely felt as though I was transported to the 70's in a foreign and dangerous setting. This harrowing journey of our protagonist not only involves multiple encounters from several people hunting him down, but also the company of a few kind hearted locals. There's something about this inserted idea that, even in the midst of such an awful setting and scenario, there's still people out there willing to put aside politics for genuine humanity that I absolutely loved. Without going into too much detail about these characters that Gary eventually encounters, each of them included their own moment of dramatic impact showcasing just how relentlessly savage and merciless this setting is. 

This is perfectly shown in one of the film's most explosive and shocking scenes involving a young child and a bomb explosion within a pub that sent chills down my spine. There are multiple examples revolving around the imagery of someone much too young being caught up in the middle of this awful situation putting their lives in danger for an unnecessary cause that are displayed here. These little segments or details on its own spoke volumes of the grim reality in which mankind places itself in and the amount of lives that are blindly lost for the most ridiculous of conflicts. One of the greatest things that films are known to do is utilize the power of visual art and storytelling to showcase the reality that we live in. 

Sometimes these come in the form of a story that centers around an event that perhaps not everyone may have heard about or are even too afraid to confront. This is one of the more deeper highlights of '71 that I really admired as the film showed, in its own brutal way, that not every man or woman involved with a seemingly evil corporation is out for blood for the sake of power. Some are simply drawn to the appeal of being a part of something that is considered socially accepted. And as a tragic result, these same people end up sealing their fate in something life stealing that has no fulfilling or time worthy outcomes whatsoever. This is the true bleak vision of the world that I think Yann Demange beautifully captures here.

Towards the end of the movie, we're given this powerful scene where one of the side characters (a teenager that's involved in the mob) is forced to shoot Gary in front of the mob's leader but hesitates for what felt like an hour of pure tension. Much as Gary was sobbing and awaiting his execution, I found myself completely shaken up inside fearful towards his life as if I personally knew him in person. Such a sentiment on my part is the sign of a great character driven film (that magically deep connection between the audience and a fictional character). 

Now, with all of that said, there are admittedly a couple of slower moments along the beginning that did stand out to me a little. These scenes do of course aid in the building of Gary's character, but unfortunately I couldn't help but feel the need to actually remind myself that these scenes would indeed eventually lead up to something substantial. The ending also suffers from that "slow but necessary" feeling as we get long extended takes of our protagonist basically leaving everything behind after his unit eventually finds him. As I stated before, there is a legitimate reason to have them inserted for the sake of the character's journey, but the pacing is noticeably felt.

Speaking of the ending, writer Gregory Burke did something here that I really admired him for pulling off given the boldness of the situation involved. The fact that we actually see the traitors in the film (our core villains) getting away with everything in the end made for a profoundly impactful way to conclude the story. This again emphasized the reality of these grim situations of conflict in the world visually expressing the fact that the "good guys" may not always come up victorious in the end. Sometimes just surviving the war is as good as it gets. The fact that we will never see these key villains put to justice was an emotionally risky choice for the story to tackle. However, by doing so adds to the raw and gritty direction that '71 has compared to several bigger Hollywood movies.

Overall, '71 is a film that unfortunately may not be the talk of the town considering everything else that was released this year, but it's definitely worthy of placing on a high pedestal for its direction alone. Not only is it one of the greatest films of 2014, but it's is also one of the best war films of our generation. Guys, I highly recommend checking this one out and spreading the word. 

Rating: 9/10