They shall not grow old (5 Stars)

It's rare for a documentary to hit me as hard emotionally as "They shall not grow old". It's been put together entirely from photos and film material taken during the First World War, with voiceover taken from recorded interviews with former soldiers who had taken part in the war. That sounds dry, but the documentary's strength is that it seems to be telling a story. Nobody is named, and no dates are specified, but we have the feeling that we're following the lives of young soldiers.

It's not an anti-war film. Some of the speakers express anti-war feelings at the end of the film, but it's the opinion of young men who were tired of war and wanted to return to their old lives. There's no moralising. In this respect, the First World War is a better subject for a documentary than the Second World War, because in the case of WW2 it's impossible not to take a moral standpoint.

The documentary follows the different phases of the war. When war first broke out there was mass euphoria. Everyone wanted to fight. There were thousands of men queuing to enlist. There was the naive optimism that the war would be over by Christmas. Then there was the training. Then the young men joined the fight, and the naive illusions broke down. People were dying. Friends were dying. It wasn't just enemy soldiers who were killing them, it was also the insanitary conditions on the battlefield. Finally we see the soldiers returning home after the war, finding themselves unemployed and unemployable.

I don't see how any other war film could possibly have such an emotional impact. Everything that we see is genuine, and it's obvious that it's genuine. The technological wizardry that went into the film is breathtaking. The old film footage has been coloured and remastered to modern standards.

The British Imperial War Museum approached Peter Jackson four years ago and asked him to make a documentary. That seems like a strange choice of director, not one I would have made, but it was the right choice. It became a labour of love for Peter Jackson, and he refused to receive any payment for his work on the film. The end result is awe inspiring, probably exceeding any expectations the Imperial War Museum might have had.

I've read that there's a extended version, 30 minutes longer than the theatrical version I saw today. That's the version I shall want to buy on Blu-ray.