The War Below is a 2021 British war film directed by J.P. Watts, in his directorial debut, and written by Watts and Thomas Woods. It was released in the United Kingdom on 10 September 2021. The film is also distributed in Germany, France, Greece, Australia, the Middle East, South Korea and Japan.
Plot
Based on a true story, the film is about a group of British miners (known as "Claykickers" or “Manchester Moles”) recruited during World War I to tunnel underneath no man's land and place mines below the German front for the Battle of Messines in 1917. 10,000 German soldiers were killed instantly after the detonation of explosives beneath their lines.
Cast
Sam Hazeldine as William Hawkin
Tom Goodman-Hill as Hellfire Jack
Kris Hitchen as Harold Stockford
Elliot James Langridge as George MacDonald
Sam Clemmett as Charlie MacDonald
Joseph Steyne as Shorty
Sonny Ashbourne Serkis as Henry
Anna Maguire as Jane Hawkin
Andrew Scarborough as Colonel Fielding
Douglas Reith as Field Marshal Lord Haig
Jake Wheeldon as Cpt. Leonard Graves
Release and reviews
The War Below was released in theaters and digital platforms in the United Kingdom on September 10, 2021. It was released on streaming services in the United States on November 11, 2021.
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, The War Below holds an approval rating of 88% based on 8 reviews. Writing in The Sunday Times, Kevin Maher awarded the film 3 out of 5 stars and stated it is "a fascinating Great War side story and a gritty central turn from Sam Hazeldine..." Writing in The Guardian, Phil Hoad described the film as having "an innately fascinating story, even if the underpinning is of unsound construction in places.”