What has remained in the collective memory of World War I is the so-called "Trench warfare," which claimed millions of lives and resulted in minimal advances on the fronts. One of its most inspiring representations is in the film Journey's End, adapted from the 1928 play of the same name written by R. C. Sherriff, who fought in the war. In it, a young man (Asa Butterfield) joins the army to try to save an old friend (Sam Claflin from The Hunger Games). The film faithfully portrays the trench experience: the threat and the feeling of imminent doom, the constant waiting, the desolation, but without extinguishing the light of hope in the brotherhood of its characters.
Another film that depicts trench warfare from the British perspective, with an unparalleled level of spectacle to this day, is 1917, inspired by stories director Sam Mendes heard from his grandfather about his participation in the war. It does so with a sense of urgency, set against the backdrop of a real World War I battle: the German retreat during Operation Alberich. However, it's an ambush, and two young British soldiers must race through no man's land to deliver a message that could save their fellow soldiers from launching an offensive and falling into the trap.
Things were no better on the opposite side, as portrayed in the German film All Quiet on the Western Front, an adaptation of the seminal novel of the same name by Erich Maria Remarque, based on his experiences with the Imperial German Army during World War I. It is a fundamentally anti-war piece, a spirit the film captures with its creative liberties: the adaptation creates a subplot about officials negotiating the armistice to end the war. Thus, it shows a rarely seen but necessary side: that of the politicians and powerful figures who view soldiers not as human beings, but as pawns in their game of ambitions.
