THis war film’s director set out to capture the lives of those who fought, rather than a retelling of the events, and viewers are calling it a “work of art”.
They Shall Not Grow Old is a documentary film by the renowned Peter Jackson, the man behind the highly acclaimed Lord of The Rings trilogy. Jackson decided to dedicate this piece of work to his late grandfather, who himself fought during the war, and it was this that motivated him to focus on creating an immersive experience of life at war.
The 2018 movie is a unique take on a war film, as it uses colourised and restored unseen footage from the First World War to capture the realities of life as a soldier. To honour this, it was premiered on the 100th anniversary of the Armistice of 11 November 1918.
One Rotten Tomatoes reviewer shared how the film touched them. They wrote: “I’ve never seen such an artistic approach to a documentary. Peter Jackson uses his extraordinary vision to capture the tragedy of the Great War.
“The transitions of the black & white/small screen to colour full screen encapsulate an eerie clarity that comes with war, capturing the ignorance of the horrors of modern warfare, both before the war ramped up and after the war ended. This film is a work of art.”
Upon reviewing the footage, from collections of the BBC and the IWM , the director made the creative decision to use audio excerpts of the real-life soldiers, as opposed to a typical narration. This helped to centre its focus on the soldiers, rather than the war itself, and therefore very few dates or locations are revealed throughout the film.
Talking about the making of the film, Jackson told Flix: “We also edited out any references to dates and places because I didn’t want the movie to be about this day here or that day there. There’s hundreds of books about all that stuff. I wanted the film to be a human experience and be agnostic in that way.”
They Shall Not Grow Old boasts an impressive 99% overall score on the review site with endless rave reviews, thanks to its ‘true’ retelling of these soldiers stories. One review claims: “Amazing window to see the true happenings of the First World War. The commentary from the soldiers was amazing to get to see their point of view and their experiences. There’s nothing like it.”
Anotherd, A must-see film depicting the horrors of war by the ones who fought and survived. The revamped footage, along with commentary sharing individual stories of their experiences, makes for a compelling movie on the Great War.”
When sharing the reasoning behind his decision to colourise the footage, Jackson explained that the men who fought in the war didn’t see it in black and white, and therefore it was important for him to show it as they saw it. This was purely a passion project for the director, who received no payment for the making of the film after his crew restored all 100 hours of the footage.
A viewer wrote: “Incredible cinematic work to breathe new life into old footage and pay respect to a generation’s sacrifice.” While another said: “I’m not the largest fan of documentaries; however, this documentary is not only emotional, entertaining, and informative to watch, but it is also revolutionary and an absolute must-see for any history fans and those just looking for a powerful and fresh look at the horrors of WWI.”
The powerful docummentary, They Shall Not Grow Old, is avaliable to watch now on Amazon Prime.