A documentary about World War I with never-before-seen footage to commemorate the centennial of the end of the war. Warner Bros. and Roadshow Films are thrilled to be bringing this very special film to cinemas on Armistice Day, Sunday 11 November, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the war.
Peter Jackson’s new documentary, “They Shall Not Grow Old,” brings to life World War I on the big screen like never before.
Jackson is beloved by moviegoers for bringing J. R. R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth to life in “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit” trilogies, and the Oscar winner is up to his usual ambitious tricks in his latest project, the World War I documentary “They Shall Not Grow Old.” Jackson utilised modern production techniques to restore and colourise nearly 100 hours of original WWI footage from Britain’s Imperial War Museum.
Employing state-of-the-art technology to transform audio and moving image archive footage more than a century old, Jackson brings to life the people who can best tell this story: the men who were there. Driven by a personal interest in the conflict, Jackson set out to explore the day-to-day experience of its combatants.
Using only the voices of those involved, the film explores the reality of war on the front line: their attitudes to the conflict; how they ate, rested and formed friendships in those moments between battles; as well as their hopes and dreams for the future. Each frame of the film has been hand-colourised by Jackson’s team.. transformed with modern post-production techniques, enabling these soldiers to walk and talk among us. Reaching into the mists of time, Jackson has aimed to give these men voices, investigate the hopes and fears of these veterans that survived and were able to tell their stories, and detail the humility and humanity of those who represented a generation forever changed by the destruction of a global war.
The First World War proved to be a landmark in cinema history – the first time that the horrors of war could be caught on camera. Many hours of dramatic footage were filmed on the battlefields, capturing the realities of the conflict in remarkable and unprecedented detail. This footage provided the public at home with astonishing access to the frontline: The Battle of the Somme, a documentary film produced with the cooperation of the War Office, was seen by an estimated 20 million Britons in its first six weeks of release.
They Shall Not Grow Old is on limited screens (including Luna Palace) in Perth this weekend, Sunday 11 November. Check cinema websites for details.
