Movie Reaction: They Shall Not Grow Old

Formula: All Quiet on the Western Front ^ Ken Burns

It's not fair what's happened to World War I. It was once known as "The War to End All Wars". However, now it always comes second to World War II. WWII was bigger. It dwarfed the casualties of WWI. WWII is better documented. Cameras were far more present in the 1940s than the 1910s. And WWII has a simpler conflict. Adolf Hitler and the Nazis are evil. The Holocaust ended that debate. I've always preferred WWI though. It's a complex war; the result of decades of treaties and old hostilities. I love the mix of old world and new world warfare. They were using both horses and planes. It always bothered me that in school, we always raced through WWI but really broke down WWII. That's why I was excited to hear about They Shall Not Grow Old: the new WWI documentary from director Peter Jackson.

The idea for They Shall Not Grow Old is that Peter Jackson was given a bunch of old WWI footage, and he decided to use magic (i.e. technology) to update it to look modern. He and his crew worked for several years to clean up the footage, accurately colorize it, and authentically dub it. The end result is something that really does bring history to life in a way that you rarely see. This isn't a history lesson. It's a reminder that history really happened.

Jackson uses all this WWI footage (100 hours) and old interviews with WWI veterans (600 hours) to tell a representative story of what it was like to be a soldier in WWI. The movie starts with recruitment, moves through basic training, follows the troops to the Western front (that's when it gets colorized), details life in the trenches, covers other bits of life away from the trenches, recounts what a battle looked like, and finally goes back home to England victorious. Jackson is a great storyteller, so he keeps this engaging the whole time and uses a host of tricks to tell the story. If nothing else, I respect the hell out of the effort put into editing this together into a coherent whole.

The real selling point of the movie is the updated footage. This is 100 year old footage made and sometimes stored in non-ideal conditions. The way that they manage to clean it all up and bring it to life is incredible. Sure, if you want to be a stickler, it isn't perfect. You can see the seams in a lot of places and tell that some computers were used to colorize and all that. But, if you are watching this with that kind of exacting critical eye, then you have missed the point and I pity you. This movie brought this to life in a way I didn't think was possible and I have nothing but respect for it. Following the movie, there was a behind the scenes look at how they made it which was nearly as good as the documentary itself. It's clear that this was a passion project for Peter Jackson.

I missed this when it ran as a special even in December. I'd accepted that I'd have to catch it streaming at some point. Then it got this re-release which I took advantage of. I'm not sure this demands to be seen on the big screen. I doubt the effect would be lost at home. I sure am glad I saw this though. In addition to being a technological achievement, it's a loving tribute to those who served in that war. It has no political agenda. It just was wants to make these people real. 

Verdict (?): Strongly Recommend