Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for They Shall Not Grow Old:
Peter Jackson made a masterpiece. I’m not talking about Lord of the Rings, though.
Quick synopsis:
A documentary on World War I that uses new technology to blow your freaking mind hole.
Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like:
When it goes from black and white to color….as the kids say, “OMG!”
Fun Fact for History Nerds:
I’m not even giving one this time. If you care about history at all, go see this thing.
My Take on They Shall Not Grow Old:
You know how everyone talked about the movie Avatar when it first came out and mentioned how revolutionary the technology used to film it was?
Peter Jackson said, “hold my beer.”
Here’s the set up. Take World War I documentary footage. You know, the type that almost looks stop motion and grainy? Clean it up, colorize, and make nerds scream.
Jackson talked a lot about how important this movie was to him. The care he took is obvious.
There is no other footage or dialogue in the movie except from actual participants. Jackson hired voice actors from the same place as the people in the movie. A guy from the middle of Wales would be dubbed over by a guy from the very same place for accuracy since sound recordings were not quite up to snuff back in the day. But what you hear are his words in what would have been his accent.
And what they choose is also masterfully done. The dialogue is almost mundane which makes it that much more moving. This isn’t a general talking about how important this or that was. It was the guy getting eaten by lice in the trenches.
This movie should have made two billion dollars at the box office.
Verdict:
Amazing. Powerful. And downright freaky when you first see the color change. Watch it here!
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