Last night I watched Peter Jackson's (he of Lord of the Rings) documentary 'They Shall not Grow Old' about life in the trenches and the front line in WW1. Jackson has taken old jerky black and white film colourised it and done some fancy digital stuff to make the frame rate 'right' for today's viewers. He also employed lip readers to work out some of the speech on the film, employed actors to use the appropriate accents and so on and generally brought the footage to life. The film was shown on BBC2 as part of marking Armistice Day but here it has also had a theatrical release.
The first twenty minutes are in old black and white and 'old style'. The 'enhanced' version kicks in as the film shows a group of men arriving at their posting in the trenches. I physically gasped as it did so.
The film is astonishing in its impact and extremely moving. What jumps out at you is...they were people. If you get a chance I recommend it highly.
Here's a clip.
They Shall not Grow Old
- Scot Dutchy
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Re: They Shall not Grow Old
I watched as well Rum. What really got me were the comments. Just pure insanity how acceptance of death was never questioned. Also the removing articles of possession from prisoners. Life became very basic.
An amazing achievement.
An amazing achievement.
"Wat is het een gezellig boel hier".
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