A TECHNICAL FEAT,‘1917’ IS GREAT STORYTELLING, TOO

It’s been a good time for World War I buffs — especially if they’re also movie buffs. A year ago director Peter Jackson applied state-of-the-art technology to century-old war footage to bring the Great War alive with sudden, stunning immediacy in his documentary “They Shall Not Grow Old.”

And now, in the feature film “1917,” another of our most talented directors, Sam Mendes, has similarly taken top technology — and the best cinematography, courtesy of Roger Deakins — to give us a different, equally compelling look at that cruel war, through the eyes of two ordinary soldiers asked