The Trench (1999)

Director:

William Boyd

Writer:

William Boyd (writer)

Release Date:

17 September 1999 (UK)

Genre:

Drama | War

Tagline:

It is a place 8ft wide, 600 miles long, man-made and God-forsaken.

Plot Keywords:

WWI | Battle Of The Somme | Trench Warfare | Soldier | Independent Film

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Paul Nicholls	...	Pte. Billy Macfarlane
Daniel Craig	...	Sgt. Telford Winter
Julian Rhind-Tutt	...	2nd Lt. Ellis Harte
Danny Dyer	...	Lance Cpl. Victor Dell
James D'Arcy	...	Pte. Colin Daventry
Tam Williams	...	Pte. Eddie Macfarlane
Anthony Strachan	...	Pte. Horace Beckwith
Michael Moreland	...	Pte. George Hogg
Adrian Lukis	...	Lt. Col. Villiers
Ciarán McMenamin	...	Pte. Charlie Ambrose
Cillian Murphy	...	Rag Rookwood
John Higgins	...	Pte. Cornwallis
Ben Whishaw	...	Pte. James Deamis
Tim Murphy	...	Pte. Bone
Danny Nutt	...	Pte. Dieter Zimmermann

Also Known As:

La tranchée (France)

Runtime:

98 min

Country:

France | UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Iceland:12 | France:U | Ireland:15 | UK:15

Filming Locations:

Bray Film Studios, Windsor, Berkshire, England, UK

Company:

Arts Council of England

Trivia:

In preparation for the film, the director sent to main cast to a replica trench for a night to experience the conditions the British army suffered.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Eddie looks out the loophole, no mans land is a clear green field. When the Winter and Beckwith do the raid, Beckwith claims there is a a ton of wire left. During the final attack, there is no wire. Also, due to the weeks of bombing it is likely that the ground would be a bit rough and muddy.

Well-intentioned but inept

It's heart might be in the right place, but this tepid misfire looks like a bad TV schools production in every way. The 'exteriors' are obviously interior studio sets, and not very convincing ones. It's so badly lit that when the film finally goes outdoors to rip off the end of Gallipoli (which it does incredibly badly, like everything else) the change of film stock is so jarring it hurts.

The characters are childish stereotypes talking in unbelievable clichés and the film is frequently just plain wrong about details and attitudes of the average WW1 Tommy: politically correct, maybe, but historically it's a travesty (no Mr Boyd, officers DID go over the top: the highest percentage of casualties was officers, and even many generals died in battle).

But more than being badly directed, looking cheap, getting its facts wrong and going with every cliché Boyd can find, it's biggest sin is that it's just so bloody boring. Bad on every level.

WW1 was a terrible tragedy, and those who died in it deserve better than this terrible, terrible film.