Documentary following the experience of British servicemen during WWI.
As an act of popular history, They Shall Not Grow Old is outstanding.
It has been left to Jackson 100 years on to reveal in full digital clarity what the war poets called the pity of war and “the truth untold”.
An emotionally rich documentary that wows both as a technical achievement and an unforgettable portrait of a terrible period of 20th century history.
An extraordinary feat but a rather self-defeating exercise all told.
Peter Jackson and team’s painstaking restoration of first world war footage is a cinematic triumph that all but brings young British soldiers back to life.
Holding back the colour footage until the story reaches the trenches, the Wizard of Oz-like transition is surreal, but the myth-challenging, unsentimental insight it provides into what these men went through is gripping and valuable in the extreme.
Peter Jackson: Lord of the Rings director's WW1 movie They Shall Not Grow Old opens.
Is First World War hyper-restoration historical sacrilege?
'The faces are unbelievable': Peter Jackson on They Shall Not Grow Old
General release. Check local listings for show times.
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