They Shall Not Grow Old sounded like a “bad idea”: Peter Jackson had worked his way through days’ worth of footage documenting WWI – from which he then selected parts and had them colourised. Add the creation of a massive, multi-channel soundscape, plus the conversion to 3D, and it sounds like every film-lover’s nightmare.
WRONG! If – if – you are not a dogma-driven diehard, but rather curious, and therefore perhaps able to see the film for what it might truly be: not merely a fine commemorative documentary about the fighting men’s experience, but arguably the most expensive experimental film of 2018; an audacious work that offers new perspectives on non-fiction filmmaking. For what Jackson did was to treat the original material as if it was motion-captured, which he could then shape. That colour, stereoscopy, and all kinds of sounds were used a century ago to capture and render the war seems almost besides the point.
Film details
Productielanden
New Zealand, United Kingdom
Jaar
2018
Festivaleditie
IFFR 2019
Lengte
109'
Medium/Formaat
DCP
Taal
English
Première status
None
Director
Peter Jackson
Producer
Peter Jackson, Clare Olssen
Distributor NL / Benelux rights holder
Warner Bros. Pictures Holland
Sales / World rights holder
Warner Bros. Pictures
Production company
WingNut Films Limited, House Productions, Imperial War Museum