They Shall Not Grow Old (2018) Review

Initial Release: October 16, 2018

Director: Peter Jackson

Produced By: Clare Olssen, Peter Jackson

Box Office: $19.9 Million

World War 1 doesn't get much attention in the media, due to it being a war with no real clear objective. But thanks to Academy Award winning director Peter Jackson, this film serves as a memorial to the men who fought and died doing their duty. Barring a slow start, the film packs an emotional punch when you can hear and see what the soldiers did. With state-of-the-art technology, Jackson and his production studio bring the war to life like we've never seen it before.  

There have been countless documentaries about World War 1. From first hand accounts to the military strategy. All of them are incredibly informative, but none come close to capturing the humanity of the real soldiers that fought and died. Every one of these other films always used the same black and white footage, or reenactments. The massive undertaking that Jackson and his team did was to look at each roll of one hundred-year-old film, go frame by frame, and restore it to look like a modern film. As Jackson puts it, "They did not experience this war in black and white, they experienced the war in full living color." From real uniforms, technology, and equipment used during the war for reference, to slowing down or speeding up the footage, with voice actors and lip readers that were hired to replicate on-screen talking. No detail was overlooked and the result is simply jaw-dropping.

What brings the personal experience to life is the narration that's done entirely by the men who are recounting their experiences. From the first second to the last, the voices we hear, either on screen or off, is either theirs or meant to be theirs. The film leaves nothing to the imagination. The grisly aftermath is on full display, with the bodies of many fallen soldiers being cut to after showing a smiling young man. It really hammers home the point that most of the men filmed were dead only minutes later. Most of the narration by the veterans is to-the-point and pragmatic. They were men and boys who had a job to do, and only one person breaks during the entire run-time. It's emotionally powerful, and the gruesome result can be hard to look at, but important if we are to learn the lessons of history.

If any criticism is to be found it is in the editing. What brings people to the theater is the colorization of this era in history, but we don't see the first colorized image until almost a half hour in. The soldiers spend the first twenty-five minutes telling us what their life was like before the war, but why couldn't we see that part colorized as well? I believe this was done intentionally for narrative and symbolic reasons, but it still felt unnecessarily long. 

The film brings to life an era that's always been viewed without color or sound for one hundred years. Peter Jackson and the team at Wingnut Films have done a great service immortalizing these soldiers, many of whom were just boys when they enlisted. Because the film only focuses on one perspective on the war, I would love to see future films from the other perspectives. Maybe even a trilogy. Despite the pacing issues, this is a must-watch for anyone. The gory aftermath of the battles may be too much for some to look at, but it's a heartbreaking reminder of the cost of war that is still relevant today.