They Shall Not Grow Old

Seen 1/21/19

This movie was my first Fathom event viewing. For those of you who may not know what that is, Fathom events are limited and select screenings of movies (sometimes events like musicals or operas). For example they will show a movie in theaters for its 25th anniversary for only 2 days around the exact date the movie was originally released. I think these showings are really cool because it celebrates what is so unique about going to the movies.    

This is an amazing World War 1 documentary. I must admit that I do not know much about the first world war as compared to the second. However, this movie was a great glimpse in to that time period. It was really interesting seeing this war from the point of view of British soldiers. But to appreciate this movie to it’s full capacity you need to see it in theaters during one of these screenings. 

After the documentary has finished it goes in to a special feature with director Peter Jackson. In this special Jackson talks about why he made this movie, what it means to him and how this movie was made. To hear him talk about his knowledge of the war is impressive. You learn he is a huge WW I buff and the personal reasons he is so connected to it. 

The parts where Jackson explains how the movie was made was just stunning. All of the audio during the movie was taken from actual interviews with WWI veterans. Jackson says they had 600 hours of audio to go through to use. I couldn’t imagine what that is like. Almost all the footage was old footage restored and colorized. The special talks about the process of adding color to the old black and white footage and to hear the amount of detail and care that was put in to it was so cool. Everything about the making of this movie just blew me away. 

I would imagine this special feature will be added to the blu ray or digital release when it is available for purchase. Showings for this have been very limited but if you happen to come across one I highly suggest you check this out in theaters.