The Trench tells the story of a group of young British soldiers on the eve of the Battle of the Somme in the summer of 1916, the worst defeat in British military history. Against this ill-fated backdrop, the movie depicts the soldiers' experience as a mixture of boredom, fear, panic, and restlessness, confined to a trench on the front lines.
Acting
Young Daniel Craig commands every frame.
Direction
Boyd refuses to glorify a single moment.
Production
The trench itself — a character drowning in mud.
Director
William Boyd
Daniel Craig
Sgt. Telford Winter
Danny Dyer
Lance Cpl. Victor Dell
James D'Arcy
Pte. Colin Daventry
Paul Nicholls
Pte. Billy Macfarlane
Julian Rhind-Tutt
2nd Lt. Ellis Harte
Ciarán McMenamin
Pte. Charlie Ambrose
Cillian Murphy
Rag Rookwood
Ben Whishaw
Pte. James Deamis
Adrian Lukis
Lt. Col. Villiers
Tam Williams
Pte. Eddie Macfarlane
Anthony Strachan
Pte. Horace Beckwith
Michael Moreland
Pte. George Hogg
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Shot in Galicia, Spain — Boyd built 250 meters of trench so authentic that WWI reenactors used it for training.
The film's commercial failure (it grossed £54,000) mirrors its subject: audiences want glory, not truth about futility.
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