A Review Of The Peter Jackson Documentary, They Shall Not Grow Old

Four years ago, Director Peter Jackson (The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, The Hobbit Trilogy) was approached about handling the Producing and Directing reviving World War I footage for a full-length documentary. According to Director Jackson, to revive it and have it stand out was something that had to be done well. It was more than reviving the film by converting it to color, but the cleanliness of the film itself, the zooming in on the footage, the sound effects that were recorded, and much more in regarding interviews, documentation, etc. It is unfortunate that documentary films are overlooked by much of the general audience because this film, in particular, was well-done in the area of editing, sound design, and research.

World War I – compared to the rest of the major 20th Century conflicts – is one that greatly under-appreciated as a historical event among people in general. To keep it short and simple, World War I set the stage of the winners and losers to come for the 20th Century, not just the countries, but ideologies as well. The end of the First World War was also the end of monarchy rule and beginning of the end for colonialism. Because of this, the First World War is of great importance in terms of historical relevance. Movie adaptations are one thing, but a full documentary is another. An average person does not go to the theater to watch a documentary, so the film had to be made in a way that was both entertainment and grounded. Throughout the halfway point of the film, the handling of footage in regards to the horrors of the war and the in-depth lives of British soldiers in the trench played out as if it was a film itself in terms of suspense, realism, and emotional depth. To further show that, the audio recordings of the artillery and gunfire were pre-recorded with real firearms and canons, and by pre-recorded, they were actually recorded. Rather than use recorded sound footage of gunfire, the studio went out of their own way to record their own, which allowed the documentary to be more authentic for what it was. To push it even further, the studio hired professional lip readers to fully know what soldiers were saying on camera in order to allow for speaking parts to be voiced over. This is not on one’s ordinary documentary that you watch in a class for extra credit. This pushes the boundaries on what documentaries can truly be and what they can truly bring for audiences.

Even in documentaries, philosophy can be found throughout. A major factor of the war was the fact that it was unlike any war ever fought prior. The idea of a gentlemen’s war quickly faded as the horrors of new ungodly technology were released on the battlefield. Machine gun fire, pump action shotguns, mustard gas, artillery, fighter planes, tanks, trench warfare, and much more. What this all has in common is despite how advance humanity becomes in technology, we grow closer to deadly weapons and mass destruction, as humanity did in later on in World War II and the Cold War. What governments and militaries thought would bring a swift end to the war only prolonged it. This handling of the philosophy was significantly well done just by the recorded testimonies from veterans, and the research poured into it.

In the prologue and epilogue of the documentary, audiences can understand that Director Jackson – a grandson of a World War I Veteran – poured his heart and soul into not just bringing this film to the public, but making it relevant. He allowed the audience to want to understand more about the levels of what this film was about and more. From the marketing to the directing and research, Director Jackson and 14-18-NOW – a World War I archive company – delivered a powerful film of a generation not far from our own.