They Shall Not Grow Old review
There is something special when it comes to images and films from the early 20th century. Being a century old creates a unique perspective that is close to our present day culture, but also one that is completely different and slightly off. A lot of that footage is scratched, burned, or defaced in some way or another simply by time which is one fear older cinephiles and history teachers have when presenting such to a younger audience. Here, Peter Jackson was given a challenge at not only restoring some WWI footage, but creating a documentary out of thousands of hours (taking place across all aspects of the war), giving the picture color, and giving the format a 3D option. On a technical standpoint Jackson has given us an incredible film like none before it.
Opting out of a single narrator Jackson instead decides to have the film be narrated by the soldiers themselves. When the film begins you are presented with the old fashioned square aspect ratio, in black and white, before a chorus of different voices overlap the images by introducing themselves, rank, etc. and continuing on how they felt as WWI was announced. Slowly the picture will get bigger and by the time it fills the screen Jackson reveals each step of the restoration until it is in color. It's a great way of taking, and honoring, the traditional footage by showing what modern technology can do to improve it.
The film itself is sadly not as impressive as the techniques that went into restoring it. There are a few points where there is footage that you probably have not seen before, my favorite is a picture in which a line of men are taking a crap on the battlefield, but more often than not I couldn't help but feel like there wasn't anything new to learn from this particular documentary that I hadn't already from the specials in my High School history class.
What They Shall Not Grow Old has going for it, however, is the impressive technique. Back in WWI the camera wasn't that mobile, so the footage was stationary for long takes at a time. Jackson modernizes this by zooming into the frame and creating enough space to move around that way. This allows him to move the camera with the characters, and you get to see how modern editing and camera work affects this film compared to the stationary shots you saw at the beginning. The color is also gorgeous and after a time you'll forget that it wasn't shot in color. There are also some fantastic shots where Jackson follows certain soldiers that by the end he pairs them up with footage of their death. It's quite powerful and unsettling seeing dead soldiers whose faces you were acquainted with throughout the film.
While 3D has come to be known as a cashgrab, gimmick, and any other bad name under the sun in recent years, Jackson provides us with a very well done conversion that is impressive and changes the viewing experience. It goes along nicely with the WWI footage, surprisingly, and is not a distraction. It's actually quite impressive how good the 3D is on film that is a century old.
Also, being from WWI it's no surprise that they had the arduous experience at recreating the audio, for back then there was none. Jackson had to assemble a team to foley everything. And everything meant everything; boots, walking, firearms, the crunch of mud, and each sound needed to be specific and be able to fit in that time period. The more you watch this movie the more you'll feel overwhelmed by how much work needed to go into this documentary.
Overall, this film is technique over substance. It provides some good, albeit disorienting, narration and footage that is interesting, but more often than not it presents a story you are all too familiar with these days; war is bad, they went in with high spirits, and by the end it was soul crushing. The only new angle Jackson provides is from a technical side which is superb. Watching the behind the scenes on the incredible work that had to be done gives this film lots of perspective and reason for any film fan to seek it out. That, and it would be nice to have history teachers show this to students.
6/10
