THEY SHALL NOT GROW OLD
UK/New Zealand, 2018, 99 minutes, Black-and-white/Colour.
Directed by Peter Jackson.
This documentary, sponsored by the Imperial War Museum in London, as well as by committees for the celebration of the armistice to and World War I, is a very striking cinema experience.
It was directed by New Zealander, Peter Jackson, Oscar-winner for his third film in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, director of horror films in his early career, a transition to drama with Heavenly Creatures, following up Lord of the Rings with the Hobbit films, creating a version of King Kong as well as The Lovely Bones.
Jackson is rightly admired as a technical innovator as well as a creative writer-director.
On the one hand, audiences will be moved at this re-creation of British troops fighting on the continent. On the other hand, the creative technical aspects of the film will elicit great admiration.
For those familiar with World War I history, this is a visual and audio recreation, beginning with the outbreak of the war, moving to the enthusiasm for enlisting, the hopes that the war would be over soon, the young men from all walks of life joining up. It explores the training, over a few weeks, before the soldiers moved across the Channel. The narrative follows the young men as they go into action, move into the trenches, the hardships of life in the trenches, yet the fellowship that was built up. The narrative concentrates on this small group, the preparation for going over the top, the personalised warfare as the men ran through the no man’s land for combat with the German soldiers, rifles, machine guns, bayonets. There was also the discovery that the German troops and their trenches we like the British, very similar – and, ultimately, wishing that the war was over. There are many deaths, atrocious wounds, medics, carrying the wounded, the burial of the corpses on the battlefield.
Audiences may have expected the film to end with the armistice but it continues on with the soldiers returning, difficulties with unemployment, the refusal to employ soldiers, so many in the population not understanding or appreciating what the soldiers had been through.
This narrative is communicated in striking technical ways. Throughout the film, there is continued voice-over by veterans of the war, audio interviews supplied by the Imperial War Museum, edited in such a way that the narrative is continuous and relates to the range of visuals which have been chosen.
The visuals range from initial newsreel footage of the outbreak of the war, patriotism and enlistment, details of the military training, embarkation to go across the Channel. However, there was not a great deal of footage of actual close-up warfare. Instead, this film relies on sketches, two-dimensional cartoons, expertly chosen to illustrate the grimness of warfare, especially in close-up, the camera moving m, providing extreme close-ups to communicate very effectively what the experience of battle was like.
But, there was film of the soldiers themselves, the trenches, carrying and tending to the wounded. Peter Jackson and his team have restored this footage, adapted the pace from the speed with which it went through the projectors then and now. He arranged for lip readers to watch the footage and write down what the soldiers were saying so that these words could be dubbed, audiences feeling that they were listening to the actual men. And then the sequences have been colorised, making a vivid impression of action, sound, colour – realism.
For audiences who want to appreciate something of the atmosphere of World War I, albeit through a small group of British soldiers and a limited focus on their action, this is an important and moving film.
1. The title? The tribute to those who fought, died and survived World War I? The release of this film for the centenary of the Armistice, November 2018?
2. The work of Peter Jackson, as a filmmaker? The tribute to his grandfather?
3. Audience knowledge of World War I, the British involvement, the fighting in Belgium and France? The German soldiers? Parallel to the British soldiers?
4. The narrative, the outbreak of the war, enmity between Britain and Germany, the involvement of the other European countries? The symbol of the football team, the announcement of the war, troubles in the Balkans? Continuing the game?
5. The hope that the war would be over soon, the fact of the war lasting over four years? The impact for the British public? Patriotism? Rallies? The young men enlisting? The scene of the young women with the white feather for the young man who had not enlisted? The numbers? The soldiers parading through the sitting, the young men following them and then enlisting?
6. The creation of the atmosphere for the film? Significance of the voice-over quotations from the veterans, the wide range, the tones of voice, the patriotism, old men remembering their youth, their enthusiasm, describing the various stages of training, going to the continent, the trenches, the warfare, the Armistice, the aftermath in England, unemployment, the hope for no more wars?
7. The visuals, the newsreel footage covering London, enlisting, the military training, going to France? The visuals of warfare – the vivid cartoons and their use, the close-ups? The visuals of the troops – from the time, the experts reading the lips from the silent films, the substitution of the voices? The effect of the colourisation, the effect on the technical pace of the footage? The return from war, newsreel footage?
8. The details of the training, the attitudes of the men, their experience and inexperience, the officers and sergeants? The announcement of going to France? Life in the trenches, men crammed together, issues of food, hygiene? Friendships?
9. The focus on the group of British versus Germans? Over the top? The attack, the dead, the wounded, the medicos, carrying the wounded? The attack on the Germans,
motivations, feelings, the bayonets, the guns, the taking prisoners? The effect of the men doing their duty, killing people?
10. The return, people at home not understanding what the soldiers had been through? Unemployment, discrimination? The effect for the next 20 years before the outbreak of World War II?
