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Original poster

To think 1917 is beyond unrealistic?

140 replies

GinTonicOnIt · 20/12/2020 23:10

Spoilers alert...

I'm watching it for the first time now. How can it possibly be that to save 1600 men they would send a message by just TWO soldiers, on foot through a really deadly mission where they are certain to die?

If you can get passed that, once the two men joined up with another set of English soldiers why didn't any of those join to help?

Why couldn't radio just be used to contact these 1600 men?

No it is all left to these TWO men? In saving private Ryan (fiction I know) but about ten men were sent to save one. But here, two for 1600?!??

I just can't get past it?

OP posts:
PetertheWalrus · 20/12/2020 23:28

In 1917 virtually all communication from the front line to the rear was by runner. Soldiers were given this as a job. Field telephones couldn't be used because the wires were cut by shelling. Radio sets at the time were massive and required permanent installations and massive aerials . They could not be taken into action. Sending two runners with a message was a normal thing. If fact, it was sometimes more to make sure as possible that one got through. Best know "runner" of the First War was a German guy named Hitler.

"Saving Private Ryan" on D-Day was a different war and a different army. If Private Ryan had been British or Canadian he'd have been left to get on with it. Neither the British nor the Canadians would have risked 10 men to save 1.

Plonque · 20/12/2020 23:37

Bloody weird that I watched 1917 tonight too Grin

Leaannb · 20/12/2020 23:38

Actually Saving Private Ryan wasn't untrue. The US did send military personnel to remove a GI from battle sue to the Sole Son Act. The family's name was Neiland. It was eventually a chaplain found him and sent him to the UK and one of his presumed dead brothers was found in a Burmese Concentration camp

StoneofDestiny · 20/12/2020 23:38

It was an unrealistic film anyway - all the 'baddies' were German and the 'goodies' Brits. It was like a piece of propaganda of old .........

deliciouschilli · 20/12/2020 23:39
Biscuit
ithinkyouareveryrude · 20/12/2020 23:40

Believe it or not but runners and pigeons were the two main sources of communication in WW1.

Invariably wire lines and phone lines got cut, damaged, bombed or intercepted. You sent a few lads and you sent them quickly.

In the great scheme of things 1600 men wasn't a lot and as the film shows, they were little more to their superiors than canon fodder.

Oh I need to rewatch 1917 now!

DonttouchthatLarry · 20/12/2020 23:40

Mel Gibson was a runner in the film 'Gallipoli'.

ithinkyouareveryrude · 20/12/2020 23:41

Main sources of communication on the front line I should say - they weren't getting messages to London on the leg of a pigeon.

startswithanL · 20/12/2020 23:41

I have just watched this tonight too...

Fiftyand · 20/12/2020 23:42

I thought it was completely unbelievable and didn’t really enjoy it.

Xmasdinnervwpolo · 20/12/2020 23:45

@GinTonicOnIt

Spoilers alert...

I'm watching it for the first time now. How can it possibly be that to save 1600 men they would send a message by just TWO soldiers, on foot through a really deadly mission where they are certain to die?

If you can get passed that, once the two men joined up with another set of English soldiers why didn't any of those join to help?

Why couldn't radio just be used to contact these 1600 men?

No it is all left to these TWO men? In saving private Ryan (fiction I know) but about ten men were sent to save one. But here, two for 1600?!??

I just can't get past it?

You do realise the two films are set almost 30 years apart don't you?!

You're as bad as my mum being surprised when she found out they used horses in battle before cars.

Plonque · 20/12/2020 23:45

@StoneofDestiny

It was an unrealistic film anyway - all the 'baddies' were German and the 'goodies' Brits. It was like a piece of propaganda of old .........

It wasn't unrealistic. It was told from a Brit perspective where, you know - all the Germans were trying to kill the brits, so are seen as the enemy! Confused
Obviously with hindsight and a healthy dose of empathy you can recognise that the German soldiers were sons and brothers just trying to follow orders in a kill or be killed situation.
But let's face it, some of the most warped and sadistic men who ever lived ruled over Germany in that period so I don't think it's that terrible for them to be portrayed as the bad guys, in a true life situation where they were!!

DolphinsAndNemesis · 20/12/2020 23:50

“Some of the most warped and sadistic men who ever lived ruled over Germany in that period.”

In 1917? Which men are you referring to?

LadyTiredWinterBottom2 · 21/12/2020 00:01

I haven't it.

My great grandfather was a runner. He had to crawl across part of no man's land to get a message that a French battalion were going into a trap. He did it, saved a 1000 lives and was awarded the Croix de Guerre for it.

I'm sure he would be glad to know you think it's unrealistic.

NoddyWithAVoddy · 21/12/2020 00:02

It's the biggest pile of unrealistic shit since Saving Private Ryan, and that takes some beating.
Me and my husband were both sat shaking our heads in amazement and muttering 'wtf?' at various scenes in it. ( Both of us ex forces, him British forces, myself German Forces ).

Leaannb · 21/12/2020 00:07

@Plonque...Do you jave the time period mixed up? Wilhelm the Second wasn't that bad.

SarahAndQuack · 21/12/2020 00:08

I've not seen it, but yes, in WW1 people really did have to go physically to bring messages.

It was over 100 years ago. Radio was very unreliable and basic.

The arrogance of comparing it to modern-day warfare is ... well, enormous.

saltinesandcoffeecups · 21/12/2020 00:09

You’re right OP,they should have just pulled out the IPhone and texted.

Fieldofyellowflowers · 21/12/2020 00:09

The film is made from a British soldier's perspective. So yes, the Germans trying to kill them were baddies. Albeit with hindsight, the Germans were just fighting for their country and following orders too, but in war, when most of it boils down to survival, you wouldn't be able to think like that.

It is not unrealistic to just send two men as messengers either. It happened a lot. Radios were unrealistic. Messages through radios often didn't reach the people at all, or if they did, they were garbled. Like "Send three and four pence, we are going to a dance,". Also, I don't know if the Germans could tap into British radio systems???Sometimes they didn't even send humans. They sent pigeons and dogs with messages.

Just sending two men makes sense because a big group of blokes would attract even more attention.

SarahAndQuack · 21/12/2020 00:09

@NoddyWithAVoddy

It's the biggest pile of unrealistic shit since Saving Private Ryan, and that takes some beating. Me and my husband were both sat shaking our heads in amazement and muttering 'wtf?' at various scenes in it. ( Both of us ex forces, him British forces, myself German Forces ).
Wow, you're both ex forces from 1917, are you?
Theluggage15 · 21/12/2020 00:10

I thought it was meant to be just a film not a documentary. Amazing that you think being in the forces in modern times means you know what it was like in the First World War Noddy. How extremely arrogant.

Plonque · 21/12/2020 00:10

Yeah sorry 🙃 momentarily forgot which war we were on Blush I do know my history... honest!

bornatXmastobequiet · 21/12/2020 00:10

Why couldn't radio just be used to contact these 1600 men?

Or they could have texted them. Very lax.

Fieldofyellowflowers · 21/12/2020 00:11

@NoddyWithAVoddy

Fought in the 1st world war did you? The army was run quite differently then to how it is now.

NoddyWithAVoddy · 21/12/2020 00:15

Obviously not, but you know, being in the forces we tend to have history thrown at us, complete with footage that would have you lot grabbing the smelling salts.
You civvies make us in the forces laugh.
1917 = pile of dog toffee.

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