An astonishing achievement by Peter Jackson, director of The Lord of the Rings. The film is only being shown on two evenings in the U.S., tonight and December 27. Find a theater showing it near you and go.
Jackson took 100 hours of archival World War One film held by the Imperial War Museum in London and has produced an unforgettable experience. If you are used to the faded, shaky, and offspeed clips of that war be prepared for something else. In a remarkable technical accomplishment, Jackson has colorized the footage, synced it to normal speed, been able to recreate dialogue, and given us close ups and pans to humanize the British infantry who are the focus of the film.
The result is a film that uses technical genius to achieve emotional resonance. It unsparingly shows life (and death) for an infantryman on the Western Front; we see everything. At times it's hard to watch; it's as if you are in the first 20 minutes of Saving Private Ryan, except with real people, real bullets, and real artillery shells.
There is no narrator or overview. The only voices are those culled from 600 hours of audio of war veterans recorded in the 1960s and 70s.
And stay through the credits to watch Peter Jackson spend a half hour explaining how the film was put together; a segment as good as the film itself. It is a personal mission for Jackson, whose grandfather fought on the first day of the Somme, the bloodiest day in British history, was severely wounded several time during the war, became an invalid from his wounds a few years after its end, and died from his injuries at the age of 50.
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