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That Peter Jackson film about the war

Started by mjwilson, November 11, 2018, 06:41:49 PM

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mjwilson

Anyone seen They Shall Not Grow Old yet? It's on telly later but maybe some of you caught it in the cinema.

The technological aspect of this looks pretty much magical, from what I've seen from clips.

FAT LEGEND PETER.JACKSON MADE A FILM ABOUT THE WAR

FAT LEGEND PETER.JACKSON MADE A FILM ABOUT THE WAR

FAT LEGEND PETER.JACKSON MADE A FILM ABOUT THE WAR

AND THE KIDS GO MARCHING HOME.

GLORY GLORY PETER.JACKSON
GLORY GLORY PETER.JACKSON GLORY
GLORY PETER JACKSON

AND THE KIDS GO MARCHING ON 

HOY HOY!

Beagle 2


Pseudopath

Yeah...that was stunning. I'm glad that it didn't try to demonise the Germans and actually showed them getting along with the Tommies and helping out with stretcher duties (which will probably annoy the fuck out of some Twittergammons). The bit at the end where the war ended but nobody felt like celebrating (and they ended up being discriminated against when trying to find work) absolutely destroyed me.

mothman

Yeah. The guy describing having to put someone out of their misery, his voice cracking, had me in tears.

But there were some truly amazing bits too. That first transition to full-screen and colour took my breath away. And the bit with the rifle grenade had me in stitches - not (just) the first one smacking himself in the face with his own rifle, but the second: there's a guy sitting next to the grenadier, his body language and facial expressions just screamed "That's coming back down on top of us, isn't it?" Mercifully, it didn't.

buzby

Quote from: Beagle 2 on November 11, 2018, 11:08:46 PM
Christ, that was amazing.
Seconded. The transition to the enhanced footage was stunning. It didn't flinch in showing the horrors of the trenches in similar detail either.I did like the comment that even the other Germans hated the Prussians too.

Chollis

Well it was no Lord of the Rings but...that was quite incredible.  It's always a bit mad to hear how eager they were to sign up. Hindsight I suppose. Loved the story about the chap at the rugby dinner with a German team when war was declared. And all the footage with the German soldiers especially. Cheers for that Pete!

Pseudopath

Quote from: Chollis on November 12, 2018, 09:32:04 AM
Well it was no Lord of the Rings

Thank fuck.

Quote from: Chollis on November 12, 2018, 09:32:04 AMLoved the story about the chap at the rugby dinner with a German team when war was declared. And all the footage with the German soldiers especially. Cheers for that Pete!

I remember reading somewhere that British veterans regularly went on drinking holidays with their German counterparts as they realised that they had much more in common with each other than their disinterested countryfolk.

Replies From View

Quote from: Pseudopath on November 11, 2018, 11:17:56 PM
Yeah...that was stunning. I'm glad that it didn't try to demonise the Germans and actually showed them getting along with the Tommies and helping out with stretcher duties (which will probably annoy the fuck out of some Twittergammons). The bit at the end where the war ended but nobody felt like celebrating (and they ended up being discriminated against when trying to find work) absolutely destroyed me.

Don't worry they are all dead now.

I thought it was great too, even though I missed the first 20 minutes and some of the colourising was obviously done more quickly/cheaply than the rest.

Replies From View



Wet Blanket

That first transition from the silent black and white footage to the colourised/foleyed was breathtaking. It deserved a proper cinema run, not just that one-night-only release.

Beagle 2

There was a really nice lead-in time as well, where you were aware that sooner or later it was going to burst into colour, but the power of the voice overs and the black and white footage was powerful enough to have immersed you completely before that switch. It really did take my breath away.

Shit Good Nose

I haven't watched it all yet, but the transition was, artistically, reminiscent of the transition at the end of Andrei Rublev (which is a huge compliment).

mothman

At one point I pressed a button on the remote to see how long it was, and found I'd been watching for an hour. Could have sworn it was only about 20 to 30 minutes. That's how rapt it held me.

mobias

Yeah I thought it was incredible. I felt quite traumatised after it. Some of it really was quite grim.

There's some war historians being a bit critical of it today on Twitter. Here's an interesting take on it https://twitter.com/SBTMitchell/status/1061760054557372417

Shaky

I'd dismissed this because top critics like my Aunty and my Dad have been raving on Facebook but will have to give it a go now.

chveik

#17
What is he doing?! There are still the Silmarillion films to make.

Quote from: mobias on November 12, 2018, 07:06:14 PM
Yeah I thought it was incredible. I felt quite traumatised after it. Some of it really was quite grim.

There's some war historians being a bit critical of it today on Twitter. Here's an interesting take on it https://twitter.com/SBTMitchell/status/1061760054557372417

QuoteI was disappointed the testimony holding positive reflections of the war were put forward first, then those of the disillusioned at the end. It's easy to forget the two interpretations after an hour of emotive film. #TheyShallNotGrowOld

What does that mean? The "interpretation" that fucking World War I was a positive thing?

buzby

Quote from: Pearly-Dewdrops Drops on November 13, 2018, 01:59:25 AM
What does that mean? The "interpretation" that fucking World War I was a positive thing?
I think he's referring to the interviewees comments from earlier in the film that during training and their early experiences of the trenches it was something akin to a camping holiday (where they were doing 4 days on the line and then being relieved and sent to the rear for R&R at local towns and villages). It was only later on in the film where the conditions in the trenches during winter, the gas and artillery bombardments and finally the experiences of going 'over the top' and mass slaughter were portrayed.

I don't agree with the historian on this point though - the film was never intended intended to be a dispassionate documentary or accurate re-enactment of the war. It is a film telling a story via the use of period footage (some of the 'battle' scenes were filmed during training exercises rather than at the front line) and the testimony of survivors about the terrible nature of the conflict and it's effect on the men who fought in it to mark the centenary of it's end. Criticising it for not being the WWI prequel to The World At War is a bit wide of the mark.

Lord Mandrake

Look I don't know the technicalities involved and obviously its a huge undertaking and the film was quite remarkable in many ways but.. They cant do eyeballs can they?

Cuellar


shh

It was breathtaking at times. Actually I felt Tolkien was 'lurking' behind a few scenes - particularly the aerial shot of the bog crisscrossed with the paths, and the voice-over describing someone sinking into it. I'm guessing Tolkien channelled that into LOTR, knowingly or otherwise.

Head Gardener

I'm surprised the missus made it through all the shots of rotting corpses and the bloody, muddy mess of it all*

*the movie not the actual war, she's not that old ffs

hermitical

Quote from: chveik on November 13, 2018, 12:10:16 AM
What is he doing?! There are still the Silmarillion films to make.

+5 bags of popcorn 5 tins of Maconochie stew and a couple rock of hard biscuits

Crabwalk

Quote from: shh on November 13, 2018, 01:22:00 PM
It was breathtaking at times. Actually I felt Tolkien was 'lurking' behind a few scenes - particularly the aerial shot of the bog crisscrossed with the paths, and the voice-over describing someone sinking into it. I'm guessing Tolkien channelled that into LOTR, knowingly or otherwise.

There's a very interesting half hour doc about the making of the film up on iPlayer, and the war's impact on Tolkien and how it bled into his work is referenced.

Cuellar

Christ, when that guy spoke about coming across a fellow soldier with his arm and leg blown off and his eye hanging down on his cheek and shooting him to put him out of his misery.

In tears saying "that hurt me". Fucking hell.

:(

One of the guys explaining why he signed up: "I just wanted to have a go at Jerry"

Pranet

Quote from: Crabwalk on November 13, 2018, 07:19:41 PM
There's a very interesting half hour doc about the making of the film up on iPlayer, and the war's impact on Tolkien and how it bled into his work is referenced.

I think this is it unless there is another one- it is a bit annoying that the iplayer doesn't immediately suggest it if you've been watching the main film- but then it never suggests Doctor Who to me and it is almost literally the only thing I ever fucking watch.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0brzngq/what-do-artists-do-all-day-27-peter-jackson

Cuellar

Favourite clips were probably the guy walking behind his mate and hitting his helmet with a log on every step and the bagpipe race on the sports day.