They Shall Not Grow Olduses technological innovation to allow people in 2019 to feel an authentic connection and greater understanding of an individual in World War I. War is an all-encompassing event. The media’s coverage of war is always highly politicized and presents a bias view, rarely highlighting specific hardships. What is documented is the end result and little of the struggles that produce that result are known. This film presents an intimate observation of authentic footage through a modern lens that gives a voice to the brotherhood and daily lives of war.

One of the most unique parts about this film is its use of perspective. Director Peter Jackson said his goal was to present World War I through the lens of the young men who fought rather than from a historians point of view. This film was a passion project for him. His family fought in the war and he wanted to bring awareness and evoke questions from viewers about their personal family history. The director’s passion about the subject was clearly translated through the shots he chooses for the film. Rather than long shooting scenes, much of the movie is the down time of the soldiers and personal dialogues of their individual backgrounds.

I found the bookends of this film some of the most interesting portions. The initial presentation of black and white imagery coupled with blurry and dark camera footage was a useful contrast to the sudden introduction of color. Although I was listening and interested in the content during the first section I noticed myself become engaged with the introduction of color.

In addition to the introduction of color, another aspect of old footage that detracts from black and white films in the lack of sound. Peter Jackson recreates authentic gunfire, shelling, falling debris giving the footage an even greater modernized quality.

This film presents a prime example of what this course explores. History is filled with information that is lost because of the format of its presentation. We are in the age of obsession with efficiency combined with a quickly deteriorating attention span. The introduction of color and documentation the non-battle times of war brought these men into the twenty-first century. These sixteen and seventeen-year-olds were just like us. This also evoked my thoughts to turn to the incredulity of world wars. I had never been exposed to the naivety of these young men. Many men were quoted in the film questioning why they were even fighting this war. There were even amicable interactions with other German soldiers. One soldier even remarked that war “was like summer camp”. This film highlighted the glory of war and the pride these men felt in fighting for their country. War now is technology and tactic driven rather than unified and bloody.

This film generated an important narrative unique to a story of war. Peter Jackson used his ample resources to bring to life innocent young men’s stories of defending their country.