The film starts with a scene, where two characters, William Schofield and Tom Blake are lying near a tree. However, their leisure time was interrupted by an officer, who gave an order to come to the command center. Our heroes went into the trenches and finally reached a command point; there they were ordered by General Erinmore to carry a message to Colonel Mackenzie of the 2nd Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment, calling off a scheduled attack the next morning that would jeopardize the lives of 1.600 people, including Blake’s brother Joseph Blake, a lieutenant.
(So, to cut a long story short, we have two heroes. At the beginning of the plot, we learn the motivation of the main characters. If they were not reached before the attack started, 1,600 men could have died, including one’s brother. That is why, we will empathize with the heroes. The motivation is absolutely clear and understandable.
However, there are some questions regarding the command. To start off, when Schofield asks ” Is it just us?’, General Erinmore answers: Down to Gehenna or Up to the Throne, he travels the fastest who travels alone’. ( It is a phrase from Rudyard Kipling’s poem “The Winners”. The definition of this phrase is shown above. It is a very pretentious phrase before one starts to think. It is a direct order; without this order, the whole scheduled British attack plan would have failed. Why are only two men attempting to cross enemy lines? One sniper on the enemy trench line and direct order will remain lying on no-man’s land. Why the British command cannot send four or five groups to enhance the odds of successiveness of an operation? Moreover, General Erinmore said that the telephone lines were cut by the enemy. Why cannot they send several special groups to repair these lines? On top of that, during World War 1, wireless telegraphy and pigeons were used; furthermore, they could send two or three airplanes to drop an order. Or even better, they may do all these things together to be confident that if one plan fails, they probably have other additional plans. Here, the British command is represented like imbeciles who hope that two people will deliver a message. OK, let us imagine that all my arguments are wrong and they could send only one group, but who did they choose? They chose a veteran of the battlefield on Somme – Schofield- and… Tom Blake. Do you know why? Only because he has a brother in the 2nd Devonshire Battalion. Wonderful. Absolutely non-planned operation that in real life will be a failure.)
So, our characters are going to the front line. William insists on waiting until sunset since it is very dangerous to go to enemy lines, even though General Erinmore tells them that the Germans are gone. However, Tom is in a hurry and does not listen to him, since his mind is focused only on the information about his brother. Suddenly, when they say to the commander of the front line that they must cross the no-man’s land, a frontline officer is shocked, as he does not have any information about the enemy’s retreat. ( HOW? How they do not know about this? During WW1, all trenches had a special sap where soldiers monitored or surveil-lanced enemies’ positions. How is it possible that the command center has information about enemy lines and officers on the front line do not?)
The captain gives William and Tom a special rocket and gives them instructions to use it if they are shot or if they reach the enemy positions and they are clear. ( Here is an additional stupid thing; OK, let us imagine that I agree that one group is faster than 4 or 5 groups, but, they are going to enemy lines. TO ENEMY LINES. Why cannot they send an assault group with them to support them? What if there are few German soldiers there and they kill two corporals? Who is going to deliver the message? God?)