They Shall Not Grow Old
4/4
Rated R for Disturbing War Images
This year was the 100th anniversary of the armistice that ended The Great War, thought at the time to be The War to End All Wars. Of course, that never happened, but there you have it. Peter Jackson, the now legendary director with a trio of Oscars under his belt and self-proclaimed World War I buff, was tasked to keep the memory of the war alive. With his film "They Shall Not Grow Old," he has accomplished his task. Of all the movies about that four year conflict that I have seen, none has so enraptured me.
"They Shall Not Grow Old" is simultaneously fascinating, sobering and astonishing. Fascinating because, with the wealth of footage and interviews supplied to him, Jackson has given us a first-hand look at the life of a grunt in the trenches. Sobering because he spares us nothing; Jackson shows the good, the bad and the ugly of being an infantryman in Europe between 1914 and 1918. And it's astonishing because of his ability to bring these men to life from over 100 years ago.
Like "Dunkirk," the best film of 2017, Jackson elects to focus on his subject rather than a traditional narrative. He follows the life of an infantryman from the opening days of WWI where idealism and the thirst for adventure encouraged so many men to enlist that many lied about their ages to do so to the armistice, where the reaction was anything but celebratory. Jackson never looks at the wider picture; politics or strategies are not mentioned. These men didn't know or care about such things. They were pawns in a grand disaster that they didn't want to be in, whether they were British, German or something else entirely. Jackson's subjects speak openly about socializing with their "enemies" (many never really saw the other side as such for the most part).
What's makes this film so powerful is the matter-of-fact tone of the men telling their stories. Whether its recalling their visit to a brothel for the first time while they were away from the front or walking past a man whose screams can't hide the fact that he is stuck in the mud and cannot be rescued. In their minds, they had a job they were expected to do, and they did it. That was all. If it was the constant smell of death or seeing a close friend alive one moment and dead the next, it was just the same to them after a while.
At first I was going to laud Jackson's techniques about how he brought color and sound to film footage over a century old, but upon reflection I have decided against it. Although it had me in awe for two hours, giving away its secrets would cause people to miss the point. Jackson's goals are not to make us marvel at his technical prowess but to bring the past to life in a way that hasn't seen before. Being aware of his wizardry will lessen its impact. I will say that none of what he did was a hatchet job. Four years were spent making this film come to life; Jackson took no money for this film and hasn't directed anything else since he began working on it.
The MPAA gave this film an R rating, and I'm not sure that's appropriate. There are some graphic images in this movie, but Jackson uses a lot of restraint. He makes his points and moves on refusing to linger on violence and death (there is very little battle footage in this movie). Although Warner Bros has been treating this as a special release (two nonconsecutive days in select theaters), I imagine they are bringing this to DVD and Blu Ray (they would be insane not to). At such time, it would be an ideal educational tool for students studying WWI.
Although Jackson had full access to the archives, he kept his focus solely on the life of a man in the trenches. I really hope that he, or someone else, takes the time to do what he did for other aspects of the war. Too often we think of World War I in abstract terms, as something that just "was." But the past needs to be preserved. By taking the time to restore and preserve existing footage, Peter Jackson has made sure that at least one part of the war will never be forgotten. The world owes him a great deal of thanks for that.
Rated R for Disturbing War Images
This year was the 100th anniversary of the armistice that ended The Great War, thought at the time to be The War to End All Wars. Of course, that never happened, but there you have it. Peter Jackson, the now legendary director with a trio of Oscars under his belt and self-proclaimed World War I buff, was tasked to keep the memory of the war alive. With his film "They Shall Not Grow Old," he has accomplished his task. Of all the movies about that four year conflict that I have seen, none has so enraptured me.
"They Shall Not Grow Old" is simultaneously fascinating, sobering and astonishing. Fascinating because, with the wealth of footage and interviews supplied to him, Jackson has given us a first-hand look at the life of a grunt in the trenches. Sobering because he spares us nothing; Jackson shows the good, the bad and the ugly of being an infantryman in Europe between 1914 and 1918. And it's astonishing because of his ability to bring these men to life from over 100 years ago.
Like "Dunkirk," the best film of 2017, Jackson elects to focus on his subject rather than a traditional narrative. He follows the life of an infantryman from the opening days of WWI where idealism and the thirst for adventure encouraged so many men to enlist that many lied about their ages to do so to the armistice, where the reaction was anything but celebratory. Jackson never looks at the wider picture; politics or strategies are not mentioned. These men didn't know or care about such things. They were pawns in a grand disaster that they didn't want to be in, whether they were British, German or something else entirely. Jackson's subjects speak openly about socializing with their "enemies" (many never really saw the other side as such for the most part).
What's makes this film so powerful is the matter-of-fact tone of the men telling their stories. Whether its recalling their visit to a brothel for the first time while they were away from the front or walking past a man whose screams can't hide the fact that he is stuck in the mud and cannot be rescued. In their minds, they had a job they were expected to do, and they did it. That was all. If it was the constant smell of death or seeing a close friend alive one moment and dead the next, it was just the same to them after a while.
At first I was going to laud Jackson's techniques about how he brought color and sound to film footage over a century old, but upon reflection I have decided against it. Although it had me in awe for two hours, giving away its secrets would cause people to miss the point. Jackson's goals are not to make us marvel at his technical prowess but to bring the past to life in a way that hasn't seen before. Being aware of his wizardry will lessen its impact. I will say that none of what he did was a hatchet job. Four years were spent making this film come to life; Jackson took no money for this film and hasn't directed anything else since he began working on it.
The MPAA gave this film an R rating, and I'm not sure that's appropriate. There are some graphic images in this movie, but Jackson uses a lot of restraint. He makes his points and moves on refusing to linger on violence and death (there is very little battle footage in this movie). Although Warner Bros has been treating this as a special release (two nonconsecutive days in select theaters), I imagine they are bringing this to DVD and Blu Ray (they would be insane not to). At such time, it would be an ideal educational tool for students studying WWI.
Although Jackson had full access to the archives, he kept his focus solely on the life of a man in the trenches. I really hope that he, or someone else, takes the time to do what he did for other aspects of the war. Too often we think of World War I in abstract terms, as something that just "was." But the past needs to be preserved. By taking the time to restore and preserve existing footage, Peter Jackson has made sure that at least one part of the war will never be forgotten. The world owes him a great deal of thanks for that.
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