They Shall Not Grow Old

Image from 1418 Now media gallery 

My first thought as They Shall Not Grow Old began running last night (it's showing again in North American cinemas on 27 December) was, I have been duped. First, I’d paid 3D prices for a movie that was manifestly NOT in 3D (when I put on the glasses the image jittered about as if it were actual film and the sprockets had shrunk). Second, the footage was old and unrestored, and for the first quarter-hour or so what I was watching was just a bog-standard documentary about first world war recruitment and training.

Then the film shifted to France. And the images filled the screen and shifted to Right Now.

The raves in the media do not do justice to the movie nor to what Jackson’s team did with it. The effect of the speed-corrected, colourized, audio-enabled footage on me was enormous, and I believe the impact on others in the audience was nearly as great. Imagine, then, the impact when we were shown enhanced, colourized photos of the dead.

I have watched a lot of documentary footage concerning the First World War, and many of these images I had never seen before. In some cases this was because of censorship―or self-censorship, on the part of producers or directors―but in others it was simply that the film had deteriorated to the point where nobody was prepared to try to make it watchable.

Nobody but Peter Jackson, that is.

I hope this film is released for home viewing. And I really hope Jackson uses some of the footage from the Imperial War Museum to make a documentary about the Royal Flying Corps.

As marvellous as the movie was, I was equally as interested in the brief How We Did It documentary that followed the closing credits. I am now convinced that Peter Jackson is what I would be if I lived in New Zealand and had a shit-ton of money. The man flew his colourization team to New Zealand from the US so that they could examine the 1914-18 uniforms―in Jackson’s personal collection. Which also includes artillery pieces, shoulder arms, (presumably) machine guns, and flying replica aircraft from the period.

I strongly advise anyone with even a shred of interest in the subject to see this film.