DigiGuide Logo

DigiGuide Library

Sign in to your account

 

Home » DigiGuide Library » Film » The Trench


  • The Trench

When's The Trench coming up on UK TV?

Subscribe to this DigiGuide Library RSS Feed and always know when The Trench is on UK TV?
Unfortunately The Trench isn't on the air any time soon.

Programme Information

This film is set in the heart of the Battle of Somme, during WWI. At the Battle of the Somme in 1916, General Douglas Haig sent wave upon wave of soldiers over the wire against the German guns. 60,000 British troops died in the first hour. The true story is terrible enough; the drama Boyd weaves around it is the stuff of tragedy.

This battle was the most horrifying chapter of slaughter exhibited during this the first of the World Wars.

The film follows a group of men as they wait in the mud of eight-foot-deep trenches to go over the top. The platoon includes 17-year-old recruit Billy Macfarlane (Paul Nicholls), Sergeant Winter (Daniel Craig) and weak-willed, aristocratic sot Lieutenant Hart.

On the eve of the attack, the men sit and wait. Boyd brings out the tedium and endless repetition of sentry duty before the senseless carnage of the following morning. At times, the piece feels very much like a theatre-based play. The tension is all the more poignant because the audience knows what the men do not, that most of them will fight and die on those muddy tracts of No-Man's Land.

Keywords:
Drama, War, Historical, History, World War, Movie, Film, Movies, Films, WWI, World War 1, WW1
Additional Information:
(1999) (2 Star)
Cast:
Paul Nicholls.... Billy Macfarlane
Daniel Craig.... Sgt. Telford Winter
Julian Rhind-Tutt.... Lt. Ellis Harte
Danny Dyer.... Victor Dell
James D'Arcy.... Colin Daventry
Tam Williams.... Eddie Macfarlane
Supporting Cast:
Anthony Strachan.... Horace Beckwith
Michael Moreland.... George Hogg
Adrian Lukis.... Col. Villiers
Ciarán McMenamin.... Charlie Ambrose
Cillian Murphy.... Rag Rockwood
John Higgins.... Cornwallis
Ben Whishaw.... James Deamis
Tim Murphy.... Bone
Danny Nutt.... Dieter
Directors:
William Boyd
Writers:
William Boyd

 Find out more on The Trench on the Internet

Add a comment

(required)
(required but not displayed)
Your e-mail is also used for adding an Avatar image to your comment using the free and very cool Gravatar.com
 
(your personal web site)