Based on R.C. Sherriff’s play of the same name, Journey’s End takes a different approach to this summer’s Dunkirk, focusing on the intimate, more personal impact of war, rather than the grander scope.
Originally written in 1928 and based on R.C. Sherriff’s own experiences of the trenches of World War I, Journey’s End was a revealing account of the men who fought in terrible, oppressive conditions, and the bond they forged.
With several film adaptations, and with the play being staged thousands of times, the material here is well known, and many will be familiar with some versions, including a reworking that made it the basis for Aces High (1976). Despite this legacy, this film, directed by Saul Dibb and written by Simon Reade, comes across as a fresh and vibrant take on what could have been a dull re-tread.
Set in March 1918, in the British trenches of Saint-Quentin in Northern France, British and German troops are separated by a ridiculously small distance, and engaged in a tense stalemate. World War I has already seen hundreds of thousands of men killed on both sides and the 6 day rotation at the front that each company of men undertakes is an oppressive period, where all expect to die.
‘C’ Company is commanded by Captain Stanhope (Sam Claflin – The Hunger Games, Snow White and the Huntsman), a man tormented by the stresses of war, who has taken to whisky as his release. His second in command, Osborne (Paul Bettany – Avengers, A Beautiful Mind) is an older, robust English schoolmaster, who staunchly defends Stanhope as “the best commander we’ve got”, while also being his confidant and father figure.
As ‘C’ Company deploy to the front, all the troops have been expecting an imminent German attack and nerves are on edge. Into this mix comes Second Lieutenant Raleigh (Asa Butterfield – Ender’s Game, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children), a young impressionable officer, who was at school with Stanhope. Despite the similar ages, the differences between Stanhope and Raleigh cannot be more pronounced, with Raleigh eager to get stuck into what he sees as a great adventure. In this claustrophobic, pressure cooker setting, we see the effects and tragedy of war, as it impacts these different men.
In some cases, adaptations of plays are fraught with difficulties and they never transcend the staged nature of the piece, but in this case Saul Dibb has done an excellent job of using the setup to his advantage. We see the cramped quarters and the mud ridden trenches, with only brief views of ‘No Man’s Land’ between the opposing forces, but this is perfect for showing the true nature of the men’s experience as they await their fate. The feel is appropriately gritty and filthy, and a true sense of how dismal conditions must have been has been captured.
Asa Butterfield and Sam Claflin put in great performances here, showing the broken dynamic between these school friends, as Raleigh’s wide eyed exuberance butts up against Stanhope’s bitter, shattered existence, and Stanhope tries to cover up how much he has changed.
It’s the relationships between the men and their reactions to the situation that are the core of the drama here, and they are well done by an excellent cast, from Hibbert’s (Tom Sturridge – On the Road, Pirate Radio) nerve wracked collapse, to the cheery, amiable Trotter (Stephen Graham – Boardwalk Empire, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales), and down to earth Mason (Toby Jones – Anthropoid, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Atomic Blonde), who just gets on with the job, trying to bring some sense of civilization and normalcy.
All the characters exhibit a particular Britishness, and the well-crafted script puts in some fine touches displaying the typical stoicism and understated sense of duty, where getting on with things is just expected. Everyone expects to die, but just carry on with a “cheerio”, when they know all is lost.
The death of innocence, duty and the futility of it all are well explored themes here and the film doesn’t get caught up in the wider picture of the war, but focuses on these personal impacts, showing the true cost, and the loss of a generation. Not just from the sheer number of casualties, but also from the crushing of hopes, dreams and the impact of sheer horror on youthful enthusiasm.
With a history behind it, including the original production with Laurence Olivier in the cast, adapting this play could have been a disaster. It may also have been weakened in its impact by the recent release of Dunkirk, but this film is very well done, and both gives a tense exploration of men at war, as well as detailing the individual tragedies that war causes. Finely balanced and managing to step beyond its stage roots, Journey’s End is worthy of your time and examination, to see the lessons we still haven’t learned 100 years on.
