Documentary Review: WWI: They Shall Not Grow Old (2019)

****^ They Shall Not Grow Old  This is a Peter Jackson work.  He was asked by British Film Archives to take their collection of movies and make a documentary.  He did this by doing two things.  He colorized much of the film and he also added sound.  Peter Jackson, who has ancestors who served in the war, is a collector of things WWI.  He used actual uniforms to make sure the colors were accurate.  Lip readers were brought in to catch the talk.  In one case he actually found through research the script that an officer was giving before his men went over the wall to attack the Germans.  What this film does very well is show conditions in the tranches.  The filth is incredible, and it really comes to life.  It also is very good at showing the daily life of the soldiers.  What it lacks, and this is a lack of filming sophistication during the time of the war, is footage of actual battle.  Jackson had a collection of WWI magazines, and these magazines were used to show battle scenes.  This movie does not have actors reenacting, and this makes the film much more effective.  I thoroughly enjoyed myself.  And the Peter Jackson talk of the making the movie were also fantastic.  A last limitation of this film is it shows the life of only a small group of soldiers, focusing on the British.  The experience of the Americans, who joined the war late, was not included.