They Shall Not Grow Old

Goes to some unbelievable lengths to make World War I footage look like World War II footage. This was actually an excellent watch. I highly recommend the documentary on the making of the film as well as it shed quite a bit of light on the intentions and reasoning behind a lot of the choices.

Stunning footage , the restoration work done here is incredible. While watching I came to the conclusion I would’ve Probably survived the war unscratched, I’d become Dame Edna and get to stay home.

An admirable and worthy project, but as with most areas of technology, the work done here will probably be able to be done better and cheaper in a few years time. But there's a good deal of merit in the footage and interviews, if you're a war buff, this should go on your short list.

Colourising and re-dubbing archive footage is the part of this that captured much of the media attention. The use of these techniques is certainly very effective. The film starts and ends in monochrome, with the vivid colour only introduced during the most deathly, horrifying part of the experiences being relayed. The most poignant part of the piece, however, is the voice testimony of men who lived through the western front, describing their own feelings and motivations as well as the horrors.

men who were there take us back, without interference from narration or text. They tell their tale. They tell us of their adolescent eagerness to fight, the camaraderie, the fear, the blunt violence. They look back, still not sure why we have to fight, yet sure that they became better men for surviving it. The various voices coalesce into a single person, someone you feel you know by the end -- the boy who went to fight in the Great War, now an old man teaching you what he learned.

Brings to mind James Morrow's words: "That 'there are no atheists in foxholes' isn't an argument against atheism, it's an argument against foxholes".

Far better use of Jackson's technical tricks than the entire Tolkien hexalogy. There are probably more insightful, well-rounded, informative WWI documentaries, but none that will simply put you in the place of witnesses long gone better than this - old men, trying to remember what it was like, trying to not just repeat the old cliches. This is about as far back as our modern, technology-dependent memory can take us, and Jackson almost makes it seem like no time has passed.

An impressive project, but something is slightly off for me, I think maybe it has to do with runtime. I'm not sure every anectode featured necessarily needed to be included, and it takes a long while to get going.

Fuck WW1. Amazing technology to bring 100 year old film to clarity and color. Watched 30 minute behind the scenes afterward; wish it showed more restoration work. I found myself getting so used to war that I wish this film spent more time showing how truly terrible it was for all those starry-eyed underage teenagers. Seriously, fuck WW1 trench warfare, gas attacks, rats, and terrifying nighttime lighting. Fav scene: the haunting initial transition to color.

Stunning documentary would be invaluable as an oral history of The Great War, but the vivid and beautifully restored archival footage does a visceral (and terrifying) job of dropping the viewer in the midst of the horrible, awful action like no other film (documentary or otherwise) has done before. Perhaps the principal of augmenting the footage with colour and sound recreation could give pause, but Jackson tastefully and respectfully utilises these techniques to achieve his desired effect.

Fascinating footage with an overlay of memories recounted by the men who lived through the war. Some of the interesting things I noticed were the fixation of everyone on the camera. Dental hygiene was not top of mind in 1914-18. Mines are horrible. Anyone with an interest in history should see this.

Perhaps much more important than Jackson's other contributions to cinema form. Yes the visual chicanery is enlightening, but it's the sound design that's enveloping - interviews are masterfully outlined to elicit memory long repressed. We often say, "Thank you for your sacrifice" like it's some physical loss, but instead what is sacrificed is experience - others did this, so we don't have to. Film brings us close enough to appreciate that loss, and know it shouldn't be repeated.

Damn, war is just a terrible thing. And today, some hipster douchebag will berate his waiter because he explicitly ordered no olives on his gluten-free pizza.

Impressive that Peter Jackson was able to create a narrative from these old clips. I'm pretty sure it had something to do with the colorization/smoothing process, but my god those soldier's eyes were zombiesque. If you stared into them for too long, you felt your soul slowly leave your body. Also, the sterotypes are true....just get a look at those British teeth. The horror.....the horror.

An amazing history of WW1, brought to life mainly through the voice testimony of soldiers; a nightmare journey from niave bravado in 1914, through the horrors of the front, to ultimate demobbing, and the inevitable feeling of redundancy in 1918. The colourization is brilliantly done, and breathes life to old film stock, although there is not enough to sustain the running time, and is often repeated and gives way to drawings, postcards and placards on several occasions. But still a fantastic feat

fascinating. makes ww1 more tangible to the modern generation.

As nice it was to see colorized footage, the restoration work didn't always look very good (and sometimes made it fell less, rather than more, real). I also wished the film had emphasized certain moments more, and frequently I felt that just showing the person that was talking at the moment would have made a stronger emotional point than the scenes that were being commented on. Still, several captivating scenes, particularly the encounters with the German POWs or their welcome back at home.

Did WWI footage need colorization? Like Jackson's infamous 48fps Hobbit, the answer is probably no. This, however, is so fascinating and so honest that I could have watched hours more in spite of the often uncanny-valley-of-it-all. Jackson focuses on the faces before anything else and it is the personal stories that take the forefront. Pretty incredible.

Jackson's editing of the interviews to make the soldiers sound pro-war is almost as sickening as the war itself. Regardless, the 7 or 8 minutes they have of colorized video footage is really quite amazing and well worth a look.

Great documentary. High quality images. Raw and real.

An impressive collection of restored clips from WWI. As all of the interviews have been edited together with these clips, there are no talking heads in sight. While the many dead bodies clearly belong in the doc, I felt the need to close my eyes many, many times during the film, but I nevertheless highly recommend it.

I enjoyed Peter Jackson's explanation of the work that went into making the film more than the film itself. I like "macro" stories and this was more a "micro" one. The story of the day-to-day experiences of the grunts in the trenches, which isn't that interesting to me. In high school history class we had the horrors of "trench foot" beaten into us day after day, and I hated that. I'd rather learn about why the war started, the leaders, the generals, the strategies.

Shocking, important, and kind of beautiful.

Simple and earnest in its intentions - to capture the textures and visceral nature of a time where this information was limited, in hopes of allowing those in the future to empathize like never before. It achieves the intention but somehow felt too vague to be truly affecting in a non-cerebral way, despite using specific interviews and photography. An amazing achievement nevertheless.

A shallow look at World War I from the point of view of an ordinary soldier. There is not much context to the events, the purpose of the war or its final outcome. It effectively shows the character of the infantrymen and some of the brutal carnage of the battles. The remarks and outdated attitudes were hard to enjoy or identify with. The colorization and restoration of the film footage were truly impressive.

One of the better documentaries I've seen in recent memory. What they were able to do with colorization, detail restoration and smoothing out the footage added and wasn't gimmicky. The voice over of those that experienced first hand worked seamlessly.

Peter Jackson's love letter to those who lived and died through such times is a thoughtful, moving and revealing piece of art.

Very interesting documentary. Love the interview/narration format. Gave me a lot of insight into the realities of the time. It could drag on at times and I don't think the temporal aspects of the stories is addressed adequately (if at all). As a history lover, thoroughly enjoyed this.

An absolute triumph. This is movie magic, breathing life into fragmented old film and conveying the horror, camaraderie, monotony and futility of war in a way that few other films come close to.

Documentary that with just the use of footage and voice-over of veterans paints a very insightful picture about the on the ground experience of WWI.

Host ratings: - / 76 / 74. Podcast review link: https://rydeorwrong.podcaster.de/rydeorwrong/folge-059-they-shall-not-grow-old-2018/

9?

The human aspect to ww1 presented here is fascinating. It being in color as well makes for a captivating experience, especially to younger audiences

Very successful in what it tries to achieve. Absolutely worth seeing.

Peter Jackson and his team didn't try to create a comprehensive doc about WW1, but rather than shallow, I'd say it's focused; one reads that 10M soldiers died in the War, and the old quip "a million is a statistic" comes to mind. They Shall Not Grow Old is here to remind us that those were 10 million tragedies. Plus the recording of "Mademoiselle from Armentières" is a gift that keeps on giving.

Adding sound and restorated visuals to old timey WW1 footage does an impressive job to bring the terrifying feeling of war to life. Probably the best way to "experience" the horror of WW1.

Extremely impressive experiment in making the past come alive. The restorated pictures and the added sound alongside the veteran interviews transport a piece of history to the here and now.

Just like The Irishman, the technology is imperfect, rendering some uncanny valley here, but the intention that's conveyed makes it work anyway. Better than most war movies because the voice-over here is so revealing of just about the whole gamut of the war for these young men, who speak of its hardships, enjoyments, and whether or not it positively shaped them.

Incredible! To be able to experience a war that took place 100 years ago!

Watch this instead, it's on YouTube. It actually has living soldiers telling their story of the war. https://www.criticker.com/tv/The-Great-War-1964/

The frame rate smoothing looked bad and made me nauseated.

Best of Peter Jackson.

Outstanding concept, intention and execution. I feel ashamed about being bored by it.

What an achievement in empathy!

A change of track for Mr Jackson (although 'Forgotten Silver' is superb in other ways.) This was as spellbinding as it was heart breaking.

Stunning.

Pretty much a boring downer. The only thing I learned is that there was no celebration when it ended, and it reinforced my belief that it was an entirely pointless war.

Holy cow what a gorgeous film.

Some images were used too much.

It would be a powerful work if it were entirely in black and white. The addition of colour adds a layer of intimacy and brings you closer to the horror of the accounts.

Seen 2x

I had issues with the colorizing of some of the faces. I realize what some of the issues were but after watching the behind the scenes after the credits I think I would have left things black an white. The restoration was still very successful. The voice overs were really great.