7 / 10
The Trench is William Boyd’s first and only film as director. He is better known as a novelist. The whole movie takes place in one British trench in the forty-eight hours before the Somme offensive on July 1, 1916. There is no combat in it. The combat is the thing the men are waiting for and the thing the audience never sees. The film ends with the whistle.
Daniel Craig plays Sergeant Telford Winter, six years before Casino Royale and one year before anyone outside the British industry knew who he was. He is doing the same compressed-fury performance he later brought to Bond, except in 1999 nobody had seen it yet. He is the best thing in the film.
The Confined Setting
Boyd commits to the trench. The camera never leaves it. You do not see the German lines. You do not see the British staff. You see a hundred yards of duckboard and dugout. The decision was partly budgetary and partly artistic, and it works because the script does not try to break out.
The trade-off is that the film feels theatrical. Boyd is a novelist directing actors in a small space. The framing is competent but rarely cinematic. If you want the trench experience as immersion, 1917 has it. If you want the trench experience as anticipation of death, The Trench is closer.
For Writers
A confined setting forces a writer to find drama in proximity and time rather than in event. The Trench has almost no plot. Men wait for an attack. They talk. They drink. They write letters. They go over the top. That is the entire story. The dramatic engine is the count-down clock and the fact that the reader knows what the Somme actually was. If you are writing a confined story, the external pressure must come from outside the room. Boyd uses history. You can use a deadline, a verdict, a coming storm. The room itself is not enough.
The Ensemble
The squad is the standard British war-film mix. The young one. The cynical one. The religious one. The officer who is trying. The officer who is not. Boyd does not subvert these types, which is a problem and not a problem. A problem because the film does not surprise. Not a problem because the men in these trenches actually were these types, and the script is more interested in being true than being clever.
Paul Nicholls plays Private Billy Macfarlane, the seventeen-year-old who lied about his age. Julian Rhind-Tutt plays the officer. The supporting cast is mostly British TV actors doing solid work in small parts.
For Writers
Type characters are not automatically bad. They become bad when the writer treats them as if they were original creations. The Trench knows its young one, its cynic, its officer-trying-to-cope are types. It does not pretend they are unique. It puts them in a real situation and watches what happens. The lesson is that you can build a true story out of recognizable types as long as you do not try to dress them up as something they are not.
The Ending
The whistle blows. The men climb the ladder. Cut to black. There is no battle. There is no postscript explaining that of the twenty thousand British soldiers who went over the top on the first day of the Somme, most were killed or wounded in the first hour. The film trusts the audience to know.
It is the right ending and it is the only ending the film could have. Anything else would be sentimental. Boyd does not have many cinematic instincts but this one was correct.
For Writers
An ending can be earned by withholding what the reader thinks they want. The Trench does not show the battle the entire film has been building toward. The withholding is the point. The reader carries the meaning of what they did not see. If you have built genuine anticipation, you can end on the moment before. Endings do not have to land. Sometimes they have to leave.
Craft Note
William Boyd directed and wrote, his only feature as director. Daniel Craig played Sergeant Telford Winter. Paul Nicholls played Private Billy Macfarlane. Julian Rhind-Tutt in support. Set in the forty-eight hours before the Somme offensive of July 1, 1916. Entire film takes place in one trench. Released September 1999. Modest British production.
The Verdict
7/10. A small, claustrophobic film that does what it sets out to do. Not cinematic. Not innovative. Honest. Worth watching for Craig’s early performance and for the ending. Skip if you want spectacle.
FAQ
Is there any combat?
No. The film ends when the men climb out of the trench. The Somme attack itself is not shown.
Why is Daniel Craig in this?
Because he was a working British actor in 1999. Casino Royale was seven years away. This is part of his pre-Bond filmography along with Layer Cake and Munich.
Is it accurate?
Reasonably. The setting, the timeline, the squad composition are correct. Some of the dialogue is modernized. The waiting is the most accurate part.
Who directed?
William Boyd, the novelist. He has written more than a dozen books. The Trench is his only feature as a director.
How does it compare to 1917?
1917 is a better film by every technical measure. The Trench is a smaller, more theatrical piece. They are doing different things.
Is it depressing?
Yes. The audience knows what is coming. The men do not.
Should I watch this?
If you are working through serious WWI cinema, yes. If you want spectacle, no.