Soldiers of WWI Come Alive in a Film
As the director of elaborate fantasy epics like the “Lord of the Rings” and “Hobbit” trilogies, Peter Jackson has become known for meticulous attention to detail. Now he has put the same amount of care into making a documentary.
With “They Shall Not Grow Old,” Mr. Jackson has applied new technology to century- old World War I footage to create a vivid, you-are-there feeling.
The documentary, which was screened in the United States this month, concentrates on the experiences of British soldiers as revealed in footage from the archives of the Imperial War Museum. Mr. Jackson and his team have digitally restored the footage, adjusted its frame rate, colorized it and converted it to 3-D. Veterans of the war “narrate” — that is, the filmmakers culled their commentary from hundreds of hours of BBC interviews recorded in the 1960s and ’ 70s.
The result is a transformation that is nothing less than visually astonishing.
“The clarity was such that these soldiers on the film came alive,” Mr. Jackson said, describing the process. “Their humanity just jumped out at you. This footage has been around for 100 years and these men had been buried behind a fog of damage, a mask of grain and jerkiness and sped-up film. Once restored, it’s the human aspect that you gain the most.”
The film came about through a partnership between the Imperial War Museum and 14-18 Now, a cul- tural program that commissioned artists to create work for the centennial of World War I (1914-1918). They approached Mr. Jackson about contributing a film to the project.
“We discovered that Peter Jackson has a huge knowledge, expertise and passion for the First World War,” said Jenny Waldman, the director of 14-18 Now. Mr. Jackson’s grandfather was a professional soldier in the British Army before the war began, and served in the conflict for its duration.
The centennial project had two requirements for Mr. Jackson: that he use only the footage from their archive and that he do it in an original way.
Mr. Jackson was given 100 hours of footage of varying levels of quality. “It was sometimes a duplicate of a duplicate of a duplicate,” he said.
Mr. Jackson turned to the company Stereo D to colorize the film’s centerpiece clips. This required the help of a historian who could identify the military details, down to what colors buttons should be. Mr. Jackson’s team also traveled to some of the battle sites to pin down color references.
The film begins with basic train- ing footage, in black and white, building to when the soldiers go to the Western Front. That’s when the movie transitions i nto startling color. Was Mr. Jackson going for a dramatic, “Wizard of Oz”-style effect? Not exactly. “It was all to do with the budget,” he said.
Mr. Jackson tried to keep his film specific. “I just wanted to focus on one topic and do it properly: the experience of an average soldier infantryman on the Western Front,” he said.