forindooruseonly
Member
Peter Jackson directed this documentary on the British soldier's experience in World War I, using restored original footage and recorded oral histories. It is not an account of the war from a strategic level - no overviews, reasons for war, or even specific battles - it tries to follow what a young British soldier felt from recruitment through training to war and finally peace.
Went to a theater and watched it on Saturday night, I'd say it is worth seeing if you can catch it near you.
They've done a great job with the footage - I'm not a person who typically likes restored/colorized footage and added background noise, but I will say they did an impressive job. When teaching WWI in my classes, I've found it hard to get students to connect to the footage that remains because it is clearly so old and in poor condition. The restoration makes it much easier to watch and adds some humanity that is lost in the jerky old reels. They hired lip-readers to figure out what people were saying in the film, then dubbed voice actors in to match the speed and accent, depending on where the soldier's unit was from. There is a whole mini documentary about the restoration/sound process after the credits that is worth watching as well - it explains the lengths they went to in order to do the job properly, as well as why they approached the editorial decisions they way they did. I would say the mini-documentary is a must watch to get the most out of the actual documentary.
I do have a few complaints about the scope/presentation, but all in all, it was a good way to explore the typical soldier's experience using nothing but archival footage and stories.
Went to a theater and watched it on Saturday night, I'd say it is worth seeing if you can catch it near you.
They've done a great job with the footage - I'm not a person who typically likes restored/colorized footage and added background noise, but I will say they did an impressive job. When teaching WWI in my classes, I've found it hard to get students to connect to the footage that remains because it is clearly so old and in poor condition. The restoration makes it much easier to watch and adds some humanity that is lost in the jerky old reels. They hired lip-readers to figure out what people were saying in the film, then dubbed voice actors in to match the speed and accent, depending on where the soldier's unit was from. There is a whole mini documentary about the restoration/sound process after the credits that is worth watching as well - it explains the lengths they went to in order to do the job properly, as well as why they approached the editorial decisions they way they did. I would say the mini-documentary is a must watch to get the most out of the actual documentary.
I do have a few complaints about the scope/presentation, but all in all, it was a good way to explore the typical soldier's experience using nothing but archival footage and stories.
