They shall not grow old - WW1 film

Fretwired

Peter Jackson has made a film about WW1 in which he has colourised and digitally manipulated original footage so it looks as if it was shot yesterday. In selected cinemas and then on the BBC. Trailer below.

not_the_dj

Looking forward to this, next Tuesday is the cinema broadcast with live Q&A link up...starts at 6 though so I'd need to get away from work a bit early....but I really want to see this on the big screen.

ESBlonde

Looking forward to this. They came from a whole other world 100 years ago, most had never left thier own village/town before finding themselves in the exotic location of flanders! They would have been excited and scared at almost the same time, if they survived a few weeks the excitment went away to be replaced with fear. In those days it was rare to show fear so they (mostly) bottled it up and put on a face to carry on. We are in so many ways a blessed  generation.

vasselmeyer

I've seen a few of these clips as they released them over the past few months. The quality of the restoration and digital manipulation is extraordinary. An amazing technical achievement.

JezWynd

With power hungry mad men on the rise around the world, we need a reminder that it's real people who suffer when they've finished their ranting.

Wolfetone

The 100 year anniversaries of the various stages of the war has really brought home and revived the absolute horror of the first war. This extraordinary film crystallises the events and, from what I have seen so far, illustrates the humanity of the conflict.

Looks brilliant. 

FX_Munkee

Apparently it's being shown on BBC on Remembrance Sunday, for those that can't make it to a cinema.

lovestrat74

I saw this on the news the other night and it is incredible how being in colour really brings this to life in a way that black & white cannot capture. Powerful stuff!

not_the_dj

So did anyone else see it tonight?

Quite an amazing achievement from Mr Jackson and team it bringing this all to life. 

Cirrus

I wanted to go, but I'd have had to leave work early and miss an open mic I'd psyched myself up to doing. I'm definitely going to catch it though, because I'm sure it'll be amazing!

duotone

FX_Munkee said:

Apparently it's being shown on BBC on Remembrance Sunday, for those that can't make it to a cinema.

Brilliant! 

mellowsun

Looking forward to seeing this. Got lots of WW1 stuff at my dads - postcards and letters from the front sent by my great aunt’s fiancée who was killed in 1917.

guitars4you

ESBlonde said:

Looking forward to this. They came from a whole other world 100 years ago, most had never left thier own village/town before finding themselves in the exotic location of flanders! They would have been excited and scared at almost the same time, if they survived a few weeks the excitment went away to be replaced with fear. In those days it was rare to show fear so they (mostly) bottled it up and put on a face to carry on. We are in so many ways a blessed  generation.

well put 

Looking forward to watching  this and remember the 11th Nov this year is the 100th anniv of the end of the war, so will be very poignant 

Never visited any of the WW1 battle scenes/fields but have visited 2/3 of the Normandy Beaches - On a warm sunny day with kids and dogs running around, it is very hard to imagine and comprehend what went on that day - The only thing you had to hide behind at first was the remains of dead body who was probably your 18 year old mate - Many were dead with in mins - Visited the USA war cemetery and just looked at the ages of so many - Sad and tearful 

Garthy

ESBlonde said:

Looking forward to this. They came from a whole other world 100 years ago, most had never left thier own village/town before finding themselves in the exotic location of flanders! They would have been excited and scared at almost the same time, if they survived a few weeks the excitment went away to be replaced with fear. In those days it was rare to show fear so they (mostly) bottled it up and put on a face to carry on. We are in so many ways a blessed  generation.

Well put, but if the same situation was repeated now where an officer told thirty 18 year olds to go over the top to face certain death by a pair of diagonally opposed machine guns strafing a battlefield I suspect that officer would have an unfortunate blue on blue accident. In essence they used kids to soak up bullets and those kids were as brave as they come but many commanding officers were criminally negligent by today's standards.

ESBlonde

Garthy said:

ESBlonde said:

Looking forward to this. They came from a whole other world 100 years ago, most had never left thier own village/town before finding themselves in the exotic location of flanders! They would have been excited and scared at almost the same time, if they survived a few weeks the excitment went away to be replaced with fear. In those days it was rare to show fear so they (mostly) bottled it up and put on a face to carry on. We are in so many ways a blessed  generation.

Well put, but if the same situation was repeated now where an officer told thirty 18 year olds to go over the top to face certain death by a pair of diagonally opposed machine guns strafing a battlefield I suspect that officer would have an unfortunate blue on blue accident. In essence they used kids to soak up bullets and those kids were as brave as they come but many commanding officers were criminally negligent by today's standards.

Those young officers blowing the whistle went over the top too, in fact they were disproportionatly killed compared to the rank and file. Many officers of this class were very protective of thier charges and took thier mens welfare very seriously. It was a different era and expectations on each class were different. The problem with WWI was that it was an industrial war which had yet to develop modern techniques of warfare, so the older senior officers just kept repeating the old method of attack on a front with lots of men because they knew no different. Later in the war the Australians first developed the method of cover fire while small units crept forward and then they provided cover while the next unit crawed past them. In essence the way of modern fighting. The machine gun was a big killer in the advances, but artillary probably killed more overall. It seems barbaric to us now (indeed to many at home then too) but context is everything.

Garthy

Yes fair point indeed.

sinbaadi

Well that was spine tingling.

Absolutely engrossing and enthralling, but that moment where it transitions from small, too fast, unnatural and blurry "black n white" to the enhanced colourful and real looking footage was just a magnificent moment.

vasselmeyer

That was awful and should be required viewing for any politician prior to voting for any kind of military action.

I'm glad i saw it though, but I'm not sure I could watch it again. I made me feel sick, angry, grateful and sad; sometimes all at the same time.

Guitar_Slinger

On iPlayer for the rest of the week, so I'll make time to watch it.

FarleyUK

What struck me the most was the attitude of the soldiers who were talking; the attitude of 'we just got on with it' and 'it was quite fun' (paraphrasing here) was mind-boggling to hear. certainly wouldn't be the case these days.

Huge, huge respect to all the people who signed up.

lovestrat74

It was an incredible piece of work. I know what you mean about the, just get on with mentality.

There are so many discussion points but what I cannot get out of my head is why they were commanded to just walk - not run or crouch - over the trenches to, in most cases, their death. There were tanks there, why send over the men before the tanks. Sending them over to kill the Germans with their bayonets when they were up against machine guns and bombs. Even in medieval warfare they had shields and protection...

Crazy and heart breaking stuff.