They Shall Not Grow Old (Amazon/Blu-ray + Digital)

Before I review the film, people need to stop giving this film only one star if they buy a DVD that's incompatible with their player. It's not Peter Jackson's fault that they're idiots and ignore the warning. The film itself is brilliant. As a historian of the late-19th century and World War I, I couldn't believe the outstanding work done bringing these "actualities" (as they were called at the time) to life. Forget the horrendous colorizing of the past; this process is truly impressive. The work done to get the color of the various regimental insignia correct as well as getting voice actors from the hometowns of those regiments to speak the lines the soldiers were saying onscreen (thanks to lip readers) shows you the attention to detail and Jackson's desire "to get it right." The war is told primarily from the British side because that's the source material Jackson had to work with. If you understand the importance of the Great War, you'll want to see this film. If you don't understand the importance of that war, you'll want to see this movie and learn about your past, for the First World War is constantly with us.

This is a review of the purchase on Amazon Prime Video.The restored footage is excellent. I saw this film four times in the theater, and was expecting the same experience from the $19.99 purchase on Amazon Prime. I did not get it, and I feel cheated. The first one second was oddly the clincher. The introduction by Peter Jackson is missing as is the 30 minute afterward feature of the process of restoring the footage. Those are critically integral to the film, or at least Jackson thought so, yet they are missing. It is beyond belief that those are not included in the Prime video purchase.I loved the film and appreciated the efforts that went into the restoration process. It’s a shame that these efforts, an integral part of the story, are not even presented in the Prime version.

Certainly an important documentary which we could not follow due to subtitles being way behind the film's action. For anyone with hearing impairment this would be totally unacceptable.

The moment when the jerky black and white footage transforms to flowing color is remarkable. After that the images become hard to take ....smiling troops, mostly cheerful for the camera, a shocking number of whom look misshapen, stunted, and have missing or grotesquely crooked front teeth (a reminder of the hard upbringing of the British working class in those days), and then the broken bloody corpses lying in filth... and all the while non-stop snippets of narration by old men (actual veterans? Actors reading what the real vets wrote? We're left in the dark on that, at least in the truncated Amazon version). The voices sound unnatural...by turns chipper and coldly detached. Perhaps it was the emotionally detached who were best able to survive the ordeal? The result seems a bit like watching footage of concentration camps while survivors (or actors impersonating them?) talk causally of the everyday routines.... "Oh yes, we had to step over our friends bodies quite a lot, but then if we were lucky there was a cup of tea waiting..."Only at the end of the film do the voices reflect on the pointlessness of it all.I'm not quite sure what's missing from this documentary. Historical context? Emotion? Rage? It all seems hollow and pointless somehow, like the war itself. The colorization and motion adjustment quickly loses its initial shock and awe. But who knows, maybe pointlessness was the mood Jackson was aiming for. Anyhow, it's a film you're not likely to forget.

This 2018 film is a documentary of British soldiers' World War I western front experiences. It is presented by Jackson in a rather strange and not-so-effective format. There is no directed story telling here; it's just a series of clips and quotes.. The format is not of the documentary style of film making.The film clips are taken from stock combat footage and the audio clips were taken from interviews made decades ago (the last WWI veteran died in 2012). Color film clips were originally black and white but were colorized by Jackson. Color movie film wasn't invented until the late 1920's. A lot of CGI was added the the combat footage to clean it up. The audio track of soldiers talking to each other on film and the background foley for those scenes was added in post production. Movie soundtracks weren't invented until the late 1920's.The film does nothing to capture the horror of the western front. In fact the film opens with several short quotes from veterans who all basically say the war wasn't a problem for them and they had no problems after the war (with PTSD). Jackson made no attempt to put those quotes into context. The veterans (who would have been born circa 1900) interviewed by unnamed persons sounded to be in their 70's. The interviews likely took place during the Vietnam War era probably the early to mid 70's. By the early 70's PTSD had become a huge problem for Vietnam vets. Many WWI and WWII veterans originally turned up their noses to Vietnam vets who complained of combat PTSD. They had been raised to believe "combat fatigue" was a form of cowardice. It took those older vets a very long time to come to terms with the effects of PTSD relative to their combat experiences.Beyond the disjointed clips the film doesn't add much new content or knowledge about World War I veterans' experiences.Is it worth watching? Yes, but be prepared. The technique of short audio quips and generally unrelated film clips going on for 90 minutes does get monotonous. It's not the veterans' stories that are the problem here. It's Jackson's creative choices that don't quite click which disappoint. Jackson experimented with a "different" documentary style and it just did not come together.

Excellent film and it really hits home and should be a must watch for everyone. Hats off to Peter Jackson for a tremendous job with this old footage

This is an excellent documentary. Well presented and awesome story from the brave men who fought in the trenches.

Love this

Startling contrast with previously grainy black and white images transformed into clear, powerful, dramatic and beautiful clarity.

This was one of the greatest film/docos about WW1 that I have ever watched. I highly recommend that everyone watch this.