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Special Features
16:9 Anamorphic Wide Screen
English
Region 2
Dolby Pro Logic English
Dolby Pro Logic
Featurette
Interviews
Behind The Scenes
English
Region 2
Dolby Pro Logic English
Dolby Pro Logic
Featurette
Interviews
Behind The Scenes
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Set in the run up to the disastrous first day of the 1916 Battle of the Somme, The Trench isn't entirely worthless, but it's not a movie, more a filmed play (despite being written as a movie), and a very poor one at that with that 1970s BBC For Schools television look. The decision to shoot on a soundstage is particularly disastrous, since it never looks like anything but a soundstage, and this despite having a good cinematographer (Tony Pierce-Roberts). The decision to never leave the trench until the final scene doesn't really work, partially because we have no indication of the world that awaits them, but largely because Boyd's finale is just too televisual to have any compensating shock value. The abrupt jump to exterior for the last couple of minutes (and very tame they are too) is very noticeable, the film stocks and looks just not matching at all. Borrowing the final image of Gallipoli as well doesn't help.
Characters constantly explain what they're doing to each other despite having been in the trench for several weeks or months; there's no immediacy, no sense of danger, no sense of having to live in a fetid, claustrophobic open grave. Indeed, it's one of the most comfortable British trenches I've seen, with an absolutely level floor for the most part and an unnatural tidiness. The soft barrage - the quietest I've ever heard for shells landing 700 yards away - doesn't help. Boyd really doesn't have any idea of the possibilities that cinema has to offer, either camera or sound. It's real problem, though, is that ultimately it's a polite, clean and determinedly inoffensive film about a dirty, ugly war.
Pluses are some good performances, most notably Daniel Craig and Paul Nicholls, the latter improving after a bland start to establish a credible screen presence. There are a couple of good scenes, too, but it doesn't really have the ring of truth or authenticity - the mood seems more influenced by hindsight than the actual mood in the run-up to the first day. Not only do you never feel you're there alongside them, but there's no sense of people caught up in, and disposed by the mad rush of a cruel history beyond their control. There's no dread, no fear, just observation. The shortfall between the film Boyd thought he was making and the one he did is made frighteningly apparent by his interviews in the EPK included on the disc.
Characters constantly explain what they're doing to each other despite having been in the trench for several weeks or months; there's no immediacy, no sense of danger, no sense of having to live in a fetid, claustrophobic open grave. Indeed, it's one of the most comfortable British trenches I've seen, with an absolutely level floor for the most part and an unnatural tidiness. The soft barrage - the quietest I've ever heard for shells landing 700 yards away - doesn't help. Boyd really doesn't have any idea of the possibilities that cinema has to offer, either camera or sound. It's real problem, though, is that ultimately it's a polite, clean and determinedly inoffensive film about a dirty, ugly war.
Pluses are some good performances, most notably Daniel Craig and Paul Nicholls, the latter improving after a bland start to establish a credible screen presence. There are a couple of good scenes, too, but it doesn't really have the ring of truth or authenticity - the mood seems more influenced by hindsight than the actual mood in the run-up to the first day. Not only do you never feel you're there alongside them, but there's no sense of people caught up in, and disposed by the mad rush of a cruel history beyond their control. There's no dread, no fear, just observation. The shortfall between the film Boyd thought he was making and the one he did is made frighteningly apparent by his interviews in the EPK included on the disc.
42 of 47 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Saw THE TRENCH recently, the first film by famed novelist William Boyd (Armadillo, A Blue Afternoon) and was very moved by it. An odd piece in its structure (very little happens until the last 10mn) as well as form (almost entirely studio-shot) the film's evocation of the absurdity of war was ultimately very successful.
Disposing of any plot, Boyd slowly traces the 48hrs leading up to the Battle of the Somme, with a group of (very) young soldiers. They are bored, restless and scared and as an audience we are asked to go through the same journey. And when the inevitable does happen we are left in tears because we got to know and like those characters. This film is Spielberg's SAVING PRIVATE RYAN but the other way round (in the Hollywood big budget blockbuster you start off with the battle and the death and the carnage and then you are bored for the following 2hrs!). For emotional payback THE TRENCH is a much more satisfying experience.
Paul Nicholls' performance is probably too weak to carry the film but Daniel Craig's awesome display of charisma is in itself worth watching the film for.
Also I would like to point out to so-called WWI experts who have written reviews for this film that the days depicted in this film take place in June when trenches were not muddy and wet, not yet at least. I do agree though that explosions would have rendered the field itself more lunar than grassy and luxurious.
A definite recommendation. You will not regret it.
19 of 21 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Having read all the other reviews, I think that most of them are rather unkind to this movie.
Prior to the battle, the Somme area was a quiet backwater of the Great War with activity consisting of both sides daily lobbing a few shells into "No Man's Land" just to maintain the pretence that there was a war on. Neither side wanted to do anything but have a quiet life.
As for the soldiers being too clean, well in a non-combat area, baths and showers were available as was clean clothing.
The Somme area is chalk, so there would have been none of the mud usually associated with trench warfare.
I'm old enough to have had conversations with Great War veterans, like my grandfathers and other relatives and their perception of the war was of
99% total boredom and 1% sheer terror.
I enjoyed the movie, despite being a Great War buff. The weapons were correct, the uniforms correct. As for the movie, well scripted and well acted.
Worth the money. Buy and enjoy
Prior to the battle, the Somme area was a quiet backwater of the Great War with activity consisting of both sides daily lobbing a few shells into "No Man's Land" just to maintain the pretence that there was a war on. Neither side wanted to do anything but have a quiet life.
As for the soldiers being too clean, well in a non-combat area, baths and showers were available as was clean clothing.
The Somme area is chalk, so there would have been none of the mud usually associated with trench warfare.
I'm old enough to have had conversations with Great War veterans, like my grandfathers and other relatives and their perception of the war was of
99% total boredom and 1% sheer terror.
I enjoyed the movie, despite being a Great War buff. The weapons were correct, the uniforms correct. As for the movie, well scripted and well acted.
Worth the money. Buy and enjoy
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
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. Read more
Published 3 days ago by Burrobaggy
The Trench
This is a no holds barred film of life in the trenches just before
the Battle of the Somme - 1916 it is frank and brutal. Read more
the Battle of the Somme - 1916 it is frank and brutal. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Graham L
Slow to watch and inaccurate.
I struggled through to the end of this film but I wouldn't bother to watch it again. Life in the Flanders trenches was hell on Earth - but this film seems to miss the opportunity... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Andyvon
Under-rated
While this film is no masterpiece, it is fairly accurate as a portrayal of pre-July Somme. It is a clean and tidy trench, because it is dug into free draining chalk. Read more
Published 11 months ago by K. Hamilton
The Trench
Sadly this film is just another clichéd stereotype about a war that is known more from inaccurate folk-myth and sentimental fabrication. Read more
Published 23 months ago by sceptic
watchable
Bought on impulse in a sale,found it gripping at times,did convey throughout a sense of despair and the intense comaradery. Read more
Published on 28 Mar 2010 by Mw Puleston
the trench
This film is the biggest load of rubbish about the first world war that Ihave ever seen .the first thing you notice is the lack of shell fire ,lovely clean trenches ,neatly swept... Read more
Published on 27 Feb 2010 by Brianbailey
the trench
the days leading up to the first day of the battle of the somme which follows a company of british soldiers preparing themselves for the big offensive. Read more
Published on 11 Jan 2010 by Donna Davinson
Trench lacking in depth
For Daniel Craig fans eager for an early pre-Bond outing, or as an introduction to First World War history, this isn't bad, but the mixture of Irish, Scottish and northern accents... Read more
Published on 23 Nov 2009 by Robin A. Marshall
tragic - but not for the right reasons
William Boyd scripted and, unfortunately, directed this. An observant and detached writer, he is no director. Blackadder Goes Forth is far more poignant
Published on 15 Nov 2009 by Julius
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