PAWNS | Omeleto

Enemies become friends.


In 1973, two war veterans are playing chess. The game reignites memories of their first meeting in 1914, during World War I. William is fighting for the British; Karl is fighting for the Germans. During a skirmish, both end up trapped in a dugout together, sparing one another's lives at different times.

During their time in the dugout, both must decide whether or not to trust one another enough to survive being trapped -- and then wonder whether or not they can become friends.

Directed by Tyrees A. Lamptey and written by David Barbeschi, this powerful historical drama frames a portrait of unlikely friendship amid the backdrop of war. With polished cinematography and camerawork that is almost old-fashioned in its formal elegance, it tells the story of a chance encounter, as two rival soldiers rediscover their humanity by seeing their commonality with the "enemy."

Opening with a vignette of two old men facing one another across a chessboard, the elegant storytelling then segues into the past, opening with a tense and suspenseful sequence of hardened soldiers gearing up for a battle. After a startling gunfight in the dark that leaves William stranded in a dugout with a German soldier, the film settles into a more intimate register that allows its themes to come to the fore.

William and Karl must work together to survive being trapped, first blocking out the gas seeping in from the battle outside. Then, with nothing else to do, they talk. The thoughtful dialogue, brought to life by world-weary performances by actors James Downie and Julian Michael Deuster, begins in a skeptical, hostile register, as William and Karl first see one another as enemies.

But gradually, as they realize they're both just ordinary men caught up in a larger battle, they discover they have more in common on a simple human level. And it is on this human level that they decide to play a game of chess together, forming the basis of what turns out to be a lifelong friendship. Those realizations bring PAWNS to a restrained but warmhearted conclusion, rooted in humanism and a belief in fundamental common decency -- one all too easily overlooked in the theater of conflict.


PAWNS. Courtesy of Tyrees A. Lamptey at https://history-making.com.