1917 shows what courage and duty really mean

The First World War was a catastrophe which altered Britain for ever and from which the country has never fully recovered. Now it has inspired yet another imaginative treatment in Sam Mendes’s brilliant and deeply original film, “1917”. This is a film about character. Specifically and perhaps most important, it’s about what it means to put duty — whether to your friends, your family or your country — before your own self-interest. In our era of narcissistic self-absorption, with identity politics and victim culture putting self-interest first at the expense…

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