On They Shall Not Grow Old

Peter Jackson’s restored WWI footage, a documentary that follows a traditional fictional film’s arc, is contrary to the message that is often presented in war films. Jackson has framed his story with a handful of unseen narrators, all veterans of WWI, who recount their stories of being young (often illegally young) men who enlisted; they explain their thoughts and feelings from enlisting to training, from battle to surviving. In this way, They Shall Not Grow Old follows a familiar pattern.

These narrations are placed alongside footage taken from WWI. This footage is of a ratio no longer used and using black and white film that is now, understandably due to its age, grainy. The first, approximately, 20 minutes of Jackson’s film use this footage and then, with jarring effect we see the magic done by Jackson and his team. The footage has been expanded to widescreen, cleaned up and most shockingly, coloured. Suddenly, these people come to life, but in a way that is not quite real, like ghosts that have been coloured in by someone who occasionally goes over the edges. Technically, it’s is hugely impressive and brings the often discarded black and white footage (discarded for being ‘old’) into the ‘now’ and suddenly and unignorably relevant.

Jackson’s effort here with the footage is impressive throughout and needs to be for the stories told by the veterans’ demand care be taken. Jackson’s footage is delivered to mirror what is being told and here, through the words, brought to life with the images, is where we find a story counter to what many war films tell us. Deaths are not heroic here and neither are survivors; prisoners are treated respectfully, sometimes as friends; training is not contextualised, they know little about what they are walking into; conditions are more terrible than many films suggest; there is no charging run over the top, but instead a solemn walk into, for many, death. But, most of all, this is an anti-war film, a film whose narrators instead highlight the futility, the fear, the naivety.

That is the message we should take away from They Shall Not Grow Old. Not just that these voices should be remembered, but what they say should be listened to. It is a timely message.