If you pay attention to the news at all, you might have heard something the vice president of the United States, J. D. Vance, refer to as the “Just War Theory.”  My fear with the attention this is receiving is that people will take from it that the Church basically has a framework for approving of warfare.  It is something that has been around since the time of St. Augustine of Hippo in the late fourth and early fifth centuries, refined by St. Thomas Aquinas in the thirteenth century, and abused by Christians during the Crusades.  Since that time, the Church has declined as a political power, thankfully, but has advanced in its commitment to peace.  She has not jettisoned the concept of “just war,” but has restricted when it is applied.  One of the reasons for this can be seen in today’s film, The Trench (1999).  It is about the days leading up to the beginning of the Battle of the Somme in 1916 during World War I.  Much of the slaughter for which that engagement is infamous does not happen until the end of this story, but the totality should help explain why Pope Leo XIV pleads with all world leaders to pursue dialog instead of violence.

That violence is imminent in The Trench would not be obvious from the first few minutes.  The only real clue is the opening script giving some historical context for why this particular British regiment is still in the title location instead of in the rear preparing for the coming offensive.  What follows is the various activities a group of armed men get up to while awaiting the battle.  Put differently, there is not a lot going on save for the low background rumble of the ongoing artillery bombardment of German positions.  Veterans like 2^nd Lieutenant Ellis Harte (Julian Rhind-Tutt) and Sergeant Telford Winter (Daniel Craig) understand that such measures will do little to lessen the danger of the attack.  To that end, at one point the regiment’s commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Villiers (Adrian Lukis), comes to their sector with a camera crew.  The visit is intended to boost morale and provide some propaganda for the attack that is expected to end the war.  Lieutenant Colonel gives a speech, and the troops are told to cheer.  The episode belies the danger in which they already find themselves.  As morning comes to the British lines, Private Eddie Macfarlane (Tam Williams), is dared to look through a spy hole towards their foe and is shot by a sniper.  He is gravely wounded, needing to be carried away on a stretcher, and the incident has a sobering impact on the men.  Before this happens, they are all pretty jovial with one another, exchanging lewd photographs and during other things you could imagine people who are essentially boys and are without parental supervision.  I would love to say that prayer is something they do to pass the time, but the only moment you see anyone beseeching God is right before they go over the top.  The only person who seems to be trying to behave himself is Sergeant Winter.  The career fighter is a teetotaler, refusing a drink offered by 2^nd Lieutenant Harte, and saying that he had taken the no-alcohol pledge.  Take it from this historian, that was a thing at that time.  While he may be level-headed, he is ruthless in trying to maintain discipline among those under his care.  As such, at one point he is told to take a few volunteers into “no-man’s land” one night in order to reconnoiter the land and take prisoners.  It is not the kind of mission soldiers enjoyed during World War I.  Otherwise, the rand-and-file begin to get increasingly fearful as the moment on July 1^st nears and they will be ordered forward.  Fights break out between them over the photos mentioned a moment ago, and two comrades who have known each other for years are on the brink of ending their friendship when one reveals that he had not told the other about being engaged.  As we get closer to that fateful hour, the desire for alcohol increases, especially since they learn that they will be going in the first wave instead of the third as previously planned.  Lance Corporal Victor Dell (Danny Dyer) is sent to obtain the regiment’s ration of rum, but it is destroyed when a shell explodes near him.  As they are gearing up for the attack, Sergeant Winter beseeches 2^nd Lieutenant Harte to share the spirits the officer has in his private collection.  At first, 2^nd Lieutenant Harte refuses, but as the troops are standing in line about to go over, we see him passing out his liquor.  With that, the whistles blows, everyone clambers up the ladder, and the majority of them are killed.

I did not provide a long synopsis for The Trench because not only do they all get killed, but most of the film is spent exploring their characters.  In other words, there is a dearth of action, and thus not much to describe.  In order to underscore the point about war and why not just Pope Leo XIV, but every modern prelate, has spoken out against armed conflict, I need to give you some further background about the Battle of the Somme and what these characters experienced.  Some of what they are told to expect is explained in the film.  According to British high command, the amount of shelling they do in the days prior to July 1^st is supposed to utterly destroy any Germans in front of them.  Because of this, the attacking troops are told that all they need to do is walk across the field, which they continued to do even when it becomes painfully clear right away that the bombardment had been ineffective.  It is a confidence born of a misplaced faith and use of modern weapons.  It is this idea that is a part of why the Church does not automatically apply the Just War Theory every time countries fight one another.  The apotheosis for this is found with Her stance against nuclear weapons, specifically their use.  Luckily, neither had that kind of destruction available to them, but they did have gas, and it is slaughter on an industrial scale.  The battle about which we are talking starts on July 1^st, and does not end for over four months, concluding on November 18^th.  During the course of the fighting, nearly one million soldiers are either killed, wounded, captured, or are missing.  On the first day alone, the one with which the film is concerned, over 60,000 British troops fall, the single bloodiest period in their military’s history.  This includes all the people with whom we have spent watching for the past hour and half.  As such, it is little wonder that Pope Benedict XV condemned the butchery taking place during World War I not just during these four months, but for the whole four years.

Despite the way The Trench ends on that first day of one of the most significant battles of World War I, it is not a terribly exciting movie.  At the same time, I think it is a good one to watch in order to understand why armed conflict is almost always a bad thing.  Films like this one make it more understandable why Pope Leo XIV would speak as he has done.