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Peter Jackson has taken old B&W footage and colourised it adding sound effects and dialogue voiced by actors to create a film commemorate the 100th anniversary of the end of WW1. He did it for free.
The trailer clips look impressive.
Its being screened on BBC2 at 9.30 tonight.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/la...l-not-grow-old
https://preview.ibb.co/gt5mSq/Capture.png
Watched the live premier in the cinema - absolutely fantastic and unlike anything you might have seen before.
There was a sequence on the Andrew Marr show this morning. It was astonishing and very moving indeed.
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Will deffo be watching this.
Likewise. Unmissable.Quote:
Originally Posted by sprite1275
Im off to see the beacon lighting in our village tonight, will be back home in time to watch this.
Don't watch much terrestrial TV so appreciate the heads up OP.
A chum told me about this. Will definitely be watching.
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Truly moving. I'm glad I watched it.
It was exceptional and Im pleased that I watched it.
Amazing insight into what these brave men went through for us. The footage seemed like yesterday in parts.
I watched it and found it harrowing. It just seemed so pointless and surely the politicians could have come to an agreement earlier and reduce the carnage.
Also the thing that surprised me was that the soldiers were treated as second class citizens (a bit like Vietnam Vets) when they returned home.
Every politician should be made to sit down and watch that programme and accept that it is easy to start a war but it's the troopers in appalling conditions who have to finish it.
Thanks for this Ian.
I am just downloading it from iPlayer and noticed that it is only available for another 6 days, in case anyone is interested.
Will watch later,Quote:
Originally Posted by alfat33
Very moving and definitely worth a watch!
Anybody else see the Danny Boyle beach images too? Great idea IMHO
https://www.pagesofthesea.org.uk
From the BBC Archive (19640) an interview with a German WW1 soldier who - in perfect English- tells about his experiences in the trenches. Very, very moving. A Dutch journalist uses the word 'Fraticide...'
https://twitter.com/BBCArchive/statu...82704332447745
Menno
I've just watched this. Incredible and moving....everyone should watch it.
Perhaps I should move this to new threat. It's so incredible! It also is in line with the They shall... voices of those who told the story: they were very positive about the Germans.Quote:
Originally Posted by village
Menno
Bravo to Peter Jackson for making it. I had no idea returning soldiers were treated so shabbily when they returned home. It's one thing for the economy to be suffering and general life being hard, but to be treated badly by other people is awful.
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Very good indeed
What a terrible waste it was- almost feel it should be mandatory watching for 16 year olds
Yes, amazing and powerful stuff. Pertinently reminds us of the dangers of nationalism and isolationism and the appalling price paid when nations relationships break down.
An incredible technical achievement also.
What an amazing film. I’d imagine it will be in contention for the best documentary feature at the Oscars.
A good point.Quote:
Originally Posted by TheFlyingBanana
Without wishing to side track things into the usual bun fight, as I understand it one of the initial drivers behind the movement for political union in Europe following round two of this madness was to try and avoid another repeat. The sheer horror that watching something like this evokes alongside consideration of recent events gives one pause for thought.
Moving film.
As an aside, the poem ‘For the Fallen’ by Laurence Binyon contains the line ‘They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old’’ yet the line is frequently stated to be ‘They shall not grow old...’.
The original line is somehow more elegant.
The full poem is very moving and powerful and is rarely read out in full.
Here it is:
For the Fallen
By Laurence Binyon
With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,
England mourns for her dead across the sea:
Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit,
Fallen in the cause of the free.
Solemn the drums thrill: Death august and royal
Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres.
There is music in the midst of desolation,
And a glory that shines upon our tears.
They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow;
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,
They fell with their faces to the foe.
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
They mingle not with their laughing comrades again;
They sit no more at familiar tables of home;
They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;
They sleep beyond England's foam.
But where our desires are and our hopes profound,
Felt like a well-spring that is hidden from sight,
To the innermost heart of their own land they are known
As the stars are known to the Night;
As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust,
Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain;
As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness
To the end, to the end they remain.
Here is a link to his original manuscript:
https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/m...aurence-binyon
Agreed, including and especially teenagers from all religions and sects.Quote:
Originally Posted by village
I really admired how he managed to portray the mood change from the initial recruiting euphoria at the recruitment stage to the disciplined stage of training through to the the comments from the sweats as they were on the way to the lines and the rest as they say...............
Exceptional work without bitterness or "side"
B
This film should be compulsory for every teenager in our schools. Thinking about joining a gang? There's no glory in killing, just emptiness. My grandfather never said a word about leading his men over the top. Last night I saw in colour for the first time what he must have seen. Lest we forget.Attachment 15492
“A copy will be sent to every secondary school in Britain before Armistice Day.”Quote:
Originally Posted by wildheart
It’s a fantastic film, I’m glad that it is being distributed, I’m very interested in my family’s involvement in the Great War and over the weekend visited the battle fields where they died and were wounded, I don’t think it should be compulsory viewing, it should be a choice.
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Can't find any words to describe the film. It's unbelievable. I've seen lots of still photos in 'world war' magazines that were printed in the 30's, in this film, but in colour it's wholly different.
Peter Jackson has produced a work of art for posterity.
Very moving. All the more so because it wasn’t just about the horror, but how they lived and felt day after day, good and bad.
Very important that it was made, and that plenty of people see it.
I started to watch this last night. Very gruesome in parts, especially when it showed the spoils of war.
It just makes you realise how fortunate we really are.
Agreed - we watched it over a couple of days and the composition of the film, the colour, the narratives gave us a whole new level of insight into the war. Amazing to understand that they felt deflated when hostilities ended - and the way they were treated on their return was difficult to comprehend.Quote:
Originally Posted by RD200
Thanks for the heads up on this. We watched it last night and found it very harrowing but also amazed at how in nearly all the footage the soldiers are smiling. People, men and women were so tough and hardened by everything going on in those days.
I read somewhere that many of the WW1 survivors would go on to perish in the worldwide Spanish flu pandemic a few years later. One horror after another.
As has been said, none of us fully appreciate how lucky we are today.
Peter Jackson has bought those fading smiling faces to life in an incredible way.
Thought it was very moving and somehow the colour process made it so much more real. It also struck me how the soldiers sense of humour and camaraderie helped them through a living hell. We Brits still have a dark sense of humour, and the ability to find the funny even in the grimmest of circumstances - maybe it originated in the trenches
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Currently watching this. The point at which it shifted to colour was so captivating I misjudged putting my wine glass down on the table...cue whole glass of red on the floor. Sigh. #firstworldproblems
Edit: it was brilliantly done and well worth watching.
so young,yet so brave
Expires at 11.05 PM tonight
Absolutely stunning, in many parts. At least the re-coloured and remastered video.
The subject is just too vast for 90 minutes; so it gets compressed - unavoidably - but that pure unadulterated horror dragged on for years. On many fronts.
I loved the narration but one must remember it is narrated by those who felt able to speak about it - and they are the stoic ones. There were 100,000's more who may have not quite dealt with the aftermath so well.
As for the smiles; that was the footage that was actually considered worthy of release. The press were gagged regarding the true horror of it all at the time so as not to affect morale/recruiting. Not all those involved were similarly jovial.
There is no footage of those shell shocked; destroyed by the experience; and shot for being unable to do their duty.
As horrible as it is shown to have been; I suspect that it was far, far worse.
My main issue was with some of the artwork illustrating the "battle" (there were obviously 1000's of these "battles" - on may different fronts) and looked like the patriotic and jingoistic Commando Comics I read as a kid (or similar) and I found it incongruous amongst genuine (albeit recoloured) images of the dead.
Finally to to say at the end that "Nearly one million British and Empire Service men were killed" hardly tells the full story; and reduces the full horror of this appalling episode.
https://www.historyonthenet.com/how-...le-died-in-ww1
"The Allies, or Entente Powers, counted around 6 million deaths, the Central Powers 4 million"
I commend all those involved for telling part of the story, and doing it so vividly. But the story is just far bigger, and far more horrible than a 90min special on a Sunday evening can ever show.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JimTheBob
Peter Jackson talked about this in the Q&A after the premiere. He said that there is no footage of actual combat, so he chose to use the illustrations that were published by the contemporary newspapers (who were faced with the same problem).
I thought that any overt patriotism swiftly lost its impact when combined with the narration and the images of the aftermath (and actually seemed quite tongue in cheek, given what the viewer knew about the reality shown up to this point). It was quite haunting to know that the lads who were shown just prior to the assault were pretty much wiped out to the last man in the first wave.
Jackson also said that he had so much more to say, but it was impossible to cover everything in one film - so he wanted to focus on one thing in depth. He also reminded the audience that the narrations used were those of the men who came back - those who didn't might have a very different take on the matter...
I remember Spike Milligan being serious for once and talking about the criticism he received for making his "Adolf Hitler, My Part In His Downfall" books so silly. His response was that humour was the only way he and his friends could cope with the horrors of war. Different war but I'm sure very similar coping mechanism.Quote:
Originally Posted by JimTheBob
Thanks for the insight/reasoning. I may watch his Q and A.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ares
I really didnt like the Boys Own artwork, as stated, but maybe he tried and discarded other ideas or methods of showing the "action".
The frame interpolation technique used to restore the original film speed worked really well, and so did the restoration / denoising / re-contrast etc. I found the colourisation a bit unnatural and distracting in parts, to be honest.
We're fortunate to have those first hand accounts in voice recordings.
I found it very moving…. An exceptional peice is work
A number of the voices were recorded in the 70’s and 80’s by the imperial war museum to keep for prosperity…. I’m glad they did
I recognised a number of them as I’ve been listening to ‘voices of the First World War’ podcasts on BBC R4 and I’m about half way through them…. Dan Snow introduces it…
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03...pisodes/player
Years ago I read two excellent books by Lyn McDonald…. Capturing in real detail first hand accounts of soldiers fighting at Passchendaele and another book covering the Somme…. The book on Passchendaele left a huge impression on the 13 year old me…. Very moving
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Passchendae.../dp/0241952417
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Somme-Lyn-MacDonald/dp/0241952387