Discuss They Shall Not Grow Old
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Filmed on Location - an important and amazing WWI film!
posted by lmao7STAFFMOD on November 13, 2018 at 12:13 PM
Worth watching, should be shown in schools for history class. By watching this you get to experience what the soldiers went through from being excited to join the army up to the end of it all where it’s really just heartbreaking.
A lot of effort went into making the footage coloured and I think they also changed fps so it’s more smooth and stable. Listening to the stories was already great but to add visuals (and sound effects) and see these soldiers interact and pass time really leveled up the storytelling.
Reply by Fergoose
on April 12, 2022 at 5:55 PM
The very impressive use of colours really made it much more relatable. I agree it should absolutely be shown in schools.
It absolutely didn't push an anti-war agenda either and showed how some young men love the camaraderie and routine of warfare and are happy enough to risk their lives trying to kill people that they actually respect (perhaps the most alarming contradiction of the film, "the jerries were just like us" followed by "we felt like we were out of a job when the war ended, it was the flattest moment of our lives").
I also didn't appreciate quite how horrific "trenchfoot" was or that you could end up dead just by slipping in mud behind your own trenches and being unable to be rescued.
Add in that you'd be murdered if you didn't go over the top and the bizarre reaction to the precise moment of the end of the war and you have a rounded interpretation of life on the western front.
Unusually for a Peter Jackson film it didnt have an inordinate amount of overly emotive background music. Hopefully something he retains for future projects.
8/10