Has anyone thought someone had the potential to restore 100-year old footage from World War I? Well, the lord of the rings and hobbits himself Peter Jackson made a broadening, grand technical achievement with an authentic and very realistic touch of what clearly World War I was perceived as in his documentary, “They Shall Not Grow Old”.
The documentary tells actual World War I soldiers’ background sound clips incorporated from BBC and the Imperial War Museum throughout the film. They narrate their integral and courageous experiences in the war like eating odd food including some fruit in a can called “Pear & Apple” (not kidding), their tough sergeant they dealt with, and experiencing loud ground explosions under dirt (that would outdo Muppet “Crazy Harry”) or from a canon.
The quality of the film not just tells the story, but also delicately utilizes 100-year old footage from World War I both distributed on black-and-white film and beautifully restored in color when the film image improves on the big screen.
I was very aware back in December of last year that Fathom Events was providing a special screening for this film since of course, I saw trailers for this doc in front of many films like “The Favourite” and maybe “If Beale Street Could Talk”. I was interested, but missed it. I soon came to unfortunately say, “It will diss.”
A month later in late January, I knew right away that Warner Bros. was bringing the film back “by popular demand” in limited theaters. I was interested.
While not in my personal and stronger documentary fields like “Three Identical Strangers” and especially “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” (I’m still not over that Oscar snub), Peter Jackson’s “They Shall Not Grow Old” is such a moving and scary look at World War I narrated by actual soldiers that experienced it while incorporating a game-changing, intrusive technical achievement.
What obviously makes this film so interesting is of course the decision Jackson made for the film, the technical aspects. The first time the camera zooms in and all of the colors collide through replacing the celluloid black-and-white film stock is absolute magic to behold. An example of this is when the screen immerses the soldiers traveling through massive tunnels at the war grounds.
Another example as well is how BBC and the museum incorporated the sound clips of the veterans themselves. Not just that, but also there are also many stock footage they used like many war propaganda from the 1910’s which show evidence of the tone of that time.
Not all of it is just “technical achievement” written all over the place. It even manages to be also a scary, intense war film in general where the sound design really kicks in with all of the cannons and stuff.
I was also welcome to experience something after the movie led by Peter Jackson whom told us that there will be a making-of mini-documentary about how they made the technical aspects of “They Shall Not Grow Old” brought to life. It was just so mesmerizing to hear Jackson’s voice about not just how they made the film, but also his history of his father attending World War I.
“They Shall Not Grow Old” should be importantly celebrated by many history buffs and obsessive movie fans as a landmark achievement in filmmaking. It works both as a courageous war film and an intelligent documentary at the same time. I can tell it was a personal project for him.
Grade: 8/10
