Trench warfare in World War I was intense, unrelenting – and remarkably static. The single largest offensive of the entire war, for instance, saw the British take 41⁄2 months to move their front line forward about three kilometres – at the cost of 130 soldiers for every metre of land gained. The front lines moved so little that the British began to start tunnelling their way under enemy forces, to blow them up from underneath. The Germans responded by tunnelling under the British tunnellers to blow them up from underneath. The first fully three-dimensional battles occurred not in the air above Europe, but in the ground below.

Mining engineers found themselves in huge demand, and this film tells the true story of one of them: Australian Oliver Woodward, who helped engineer and execute the most ambitious underground campaign of the war, resulting in what was then the largest man-made explosion in history. (The crater is still visible.) It’s a story worth telling and it’s a great relief that the film tells it well, allowing us to admire the courage and skill of the men without looking like a recruiting poster – perhaps because we never lose sight of the fact that these people are really civilians, with lives in Australia they all hope to return to as soon as possible.

Winner of the Cannes Jury Prize, Fish Tank explores the life of 15-year-old Mia, played by newcomer Katie Jarvis, and her embryonic relationship with her mother’s new boyfriend Connor (Fassbender).

The British film, directed by Andrea Arnold, is a typical working class story emulating a hard-edged upbringing and transition to adulthood. Mia is the tough, hard-done-by kid with ambition far beyond the harsh world she lives in. Still clinging to her childhood and any form of happiness, will Mia come to see that she is in control of her own future?

It is the relationship between Mia and Connor that drives this indie film far beyond what has been on offer to audiences for quite some time. Connor’s encouragement and happiness give hope to Mia’s hip-hop ambitions, but his physical presence and openness can be unsettling for audiences. A noteworthy performance is put in by Rebecca Griffiths, playing Mia’s younger sister.

Despite the genuine character that Fassbender plays, Fish Tank builds up the intensity and questions the relationship shared between the two. Is Mia too weak and impressionable? Will Connor overstep the boundaries that we fear he will? Jarvis’s and Fassbender’s performances are outstanding, walking the line between exhilarating and unsettling.