The Trench - Before they were famous

‘The Trench’ is basically a World War 1 drama with a host of ‘soon-to-be-famous’ faces, including Daniel Craig, Cillian Murphy and Danny Dyer (the latter of which produces arguably one of the best performances of his career).  It does its best to portray life on of the most depressing and violent conflicts in the history of man.  But does it do it well?

It’s hit and miss.  First of all, with a cast list as above, you can’t really fault the acting.  Everyone does their best with what’s provided.  However, where it falls down is the story.  There isn’t really one.  But then that’s hardly the film’s fault, more a by-product of the subject matter.  You can’t really tell the story of the entire First World War in an hour and a half, so the film concentrates on just the build up to the first few days of the battle of the Somme.

The characters just wander around, waiting for the final call from the military’s top brass to send them over the top in an attempt to gain ground from the Germans.  You get to know some of the soldiers and naturally care for their fates, it’s just the whole film is really just about showing the conditions they had to live in, rather than telling a story which wasn’t really there to begin with.

I grew up on Blackadder (Goes Forth) and felt, despite its ‘comedy’ tag, it was somehow more touching than The Trench managed.  Plus both the TV show ‘Blackadder’ and the film The Trench seemed to have similar budgets when it came to sets.  I know it’s a minor gripe, but everything in The Trench was ‘filmed from above’ so to speak.  That way you never saw the sky (with the exception of about two shots).  I know this might have been designed to heighten the ‘claustrophobic’ nature the soldiers had to live in, but it just felt cheap to me – like everything was simply filmed on a ‘trench set.’ Plus the soldiers’ uniforms looked way too clean to be rolling around in mud for months on end!

If you’re looking for a film that shows the conditions of what the soldiers had to live in then this is it.  If you want something with drama and poignancy then try Blackadder Goes Forth (plus it has humour, too). ‘The Trench’ isn’t a bad film.  It’s just that it’s hard to make a story out of just showing soldiers in the trenches.

6/10 Should probably keep you awake if Freddy Krueger was haunting your nights