The Trench (1999)

User Rating:

6.2/10   

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

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.

trench life made to look cosy

Strangely this film has grown on me and I'm not sure why but still have a hate for it. The acting is fairly sound and it has some good moments but there isn't much feel for realism. For a start the trenches would have been infested with rats and lice and from what I've read about The Somme it seemed a lot more draumatic than what was portrayed in this film. It just looked too clean. The main hardship they had experienced was boredom, not relentless rain and the constant madness of bombardments. Also what was the point of capturing a German and then not interrogate him, but give him a fag and then let him go? Another wrong point is that the battalions would have been from the same region. Yeh, I'm being picky but why the scots were with southerners and northerners I don't know. The end of the film is the worst. Surely if there had been nights of endless shelling you'd expect to see some shell holes when going over the top? Could of had a nice picnic on that land. Shame, if the director had read more relevant books it could have been really good.