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They Shall Not Grow Old

They Shall Not Grow Old

2018
Documentary, War
1h 39m
A documentary about World War I with never-before-seen footage to commemorate the centennial of the end of the war. (imdb)
Your probable score
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They Shall Not Grow Old

2018
Documentary, War
1h 39m
Your probable score
Avg Percentile 70.06% from 571 total ratings

Ratings & Reviews

(571)
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Rated 08 Feb 2019
82
91st
Goes to some unbelievable lengths to make World War I footage look like World War II footage. This was actually an excellent watch. I highly recommend the documentary on the making of the film as well as it shed quite a bit of light on the intentions and reasoning behind a lot of the choices.
Rated 23 Nov 2018
85
86th
Stunning footage , the restoration work done here is incredible. While watching I came to the conclusion I would’ve Probably survived the war unscratched, I’d become Dame Edna and get to stay home.
Rated 11 Nov 2018
80
74th
Colourising and re-dubbing archive footage is the part of this that captured much of the media attention. The use of these techniques is certainly very effective. The film starts and ends in monochrome, with the vivid colour only introduced during the most deathly, horrifying part of the experiences being relayed. The most poignant part of the piece, however, is the voice testimony of men who lived through the western front, describing their own feelings and motivations as well as the horrors.
Rated 29 Jun 2020
75
52nd
An admirable and worthy project, but as with most areas of technology, the work done here will probably be able to be done better and cheaper in a few years time. But there's a good deal of merit in the footage and interviews, if you're a war buff, this should go on your short list.
Rated 04 Nov 2019
91
94th
men who were there take us back, without interference from narration or text. They tell their tale. They tell us of their adolescent eagerness to fight, the camaraderie, the fear, the blunt violence. They look back, still not sure why we have to fight, yet sure that they became better men for surviving it. The various voices coalesce into a single person, someone you feel you know by the end -- the boy who went to fight in the Great War, now an old man teaching you what he learned.
Rated 15 Nov 2018
85
91st
Fascinating footage with an overlay of memories recounted by the men who lived through the war. Some of the interesting things I noticed were the fixation of everyone on the camera. Dental hygiene was not top of mind in 1914-18. Mines are horrible. Anyone with an interest in history should see this.
Rated 05 Jan 2019
100
99th
Stunning documentary would be invaluable as an oral history of The Great War, but the vivid and beautifully restored archival footage does a visceral (and terrifying) job of dropping the viewer in the midst of the horrible, awful action like no other film (documentary or otherwise) has done before. Perhaps the principal of augmenting the footage with colour and sound recreation could give pause, but Jackson tastefully and respectfully utilises these techniques to achieve his desired effect.
Rated 13 Feb 2019
70
76th
Fuck WW1. Amazing technology to bring 100 year old film to clarity and color. Watched 30 minute behind the scenes afterward; wish it showed more restoration work. I found myself getting so used to war that I wish this film spent more time showing how truly terrible it was for all those starry-eyed underage teenagers. Seriously, fuck WW1 trench warfare, gas attacks, rats, and terrifying nighttime lighting. Fav scene: the haunting initial transition to color.
Rated 08 Mar 2019
75
65th
An impressive project, but something is slightly off for me, I think maybe it has to do with runtime. I'm not sure every anectode featured necessarily needed to be included, and it takes a long while to get going.
Rated 10 Jan 2020
82
88th
Far better use of Jackson's technical tricks than the entire Tolkien hexalogy. There are probably more insightful, well-rounded, informative WWI documentaries, but none that will simply put you in the place of witnesses long gone better than this - old men, trying to remember what it was like, trying to not just repeat the old cliches. This is about as far back as our modern, technology-dependent memory can take us, and Jackson almost makes it seem like no time has passed.
Rated 20 Jul 2020
85
89th
Brings to mind James Morrow's words: "That 'there are no atheists in foxholes' isn't an argument against atheism, it's an argument against foxholes".
Rated 13 Nov 2018
80
74th
An amazing history of WW1, brought to life mainly through the voice testimony of soldiers; a nightmare journey from niave bravado in 1914, through the horrors of the front, to ultimate demobbing, and the inevitable feeling of redundancy in 1918. The colourization is brilliantly done, and breathes life to old film stock, although there is not enough to sustain the running time, and is often repeated and gives way to drawings, postcards and placards on several occasions. But still a fantastic feat
Rated 15 Jan 2020
75
93rd
Impressive that Peter Jackson was able to create a narrative from these old clips. I'm pretty sure it had something to do with the colorization/smoothing process, but my god those soldier's eyes were zombiesque. If you stared into them for too long, you felt your soul slowly leave your body. Also, the sterotypes are true....just get a look at those British teeth. The horror.....the horror.
Rated 15 Nov 2020
8
78th
Damn, war is just a terrible thing. And today, some hipster douchebag will berate his waiter because he explicitly ordered no olives on his gluten-free pizza.
Rated 02 Jan 2021
91
90th
Perhaps much more important than Jackson's other contributions to cinema form. Yes the visual chicanery is enlightening, but it's the sound design that's enveloping - interviews are masterfully outlined to elicit memory long repressed. We often say, "Thank you for your sacrifice" like it's some physical loss, but instead what is sacrificed is experience - others did this, so we don't have to. Film brings us close enough to appreciate that loss, and know it shouldn't be repeated.
Rated 25 Sep 2019
80
73rd
Did WWI footage need colorization? Like Jackson's infamous 48fps Hobbit, the answer is probably no. This, however, is so fascinating and so honest that I could have watched hours more in spite of the often uncanny-valley-of-it-all. Jackson focuses on the faces before anything else and it is the personal stories that take the forefront. Pretty incredible.
Rated 22 Nov 2018
7
73rd
Peter Jackson's love letter to those who lived and died through such times is a thoughtful, moving and revealing piece of art.
Rated 08 Feb 2019
84
72nd
Simple and earnest in its intentions - to capture the textures and visceral nature of a time where this information was limited, in hopes of allowing those in the future to empathize like never before. It achieves the intention but somehow felt too vague to be truly affecting in a non-cerebral way, despite using specific interviews and photography. An amazing achievement nevertheless.
Rated 18 Dec 2018
75
88th
One of the better documentaries I've seen in recent memory. What they were able to do with colorization, detail restoration and smoothing out the footage added and wasn't gimmicky. The voice over of those that experienced first hand worked seamlessly.
Rated 17 Jan 2019
50
49th
A shallow look at World War I from the point of view of an ordinary soldier. There is not much context to the events, the purpose of the war or its final outcome. It effectively shows the character of the infantrymen and some of the brutal carnage of the battles. The remarks and outdated attitudes were hard to enjoy or identify with. The colorization and restoration of the film footage were truly impressive.
Rated 28 Feb 2019
75
87th
Shocking, important, and kind of beautiful.
Rated 01 Mar 2019
60
69th
I enjoyed Peter Jackson's explanation of the work that went into making the film more than the film itself. I like "macro" stories and this was more a "micro" one. The story of the day-to-day experiences of the grunts in the trenches, which isn't that interesting to me. In high school history class we had the horrors of "trench foot" beaten into us day after day, and I hated that. I'd rather learn about why the war started, the leaders, the generals, the strategies.
Rated 03 Mar 2019
80
86th
An impressive collection of restored clips from WWI. As all of the interviews have been edited together with these clips, there are no talking heads in sight. While the many dead bodies clearly belong in the doc, I felt the need to close my eyes many, many times during the film, but I nevertheless highly recommend it.
Rated 18 Jun 2019
7
75th
Great documentary. High quality images. Raw and real.
Rated 13 Jul 2019
73
46th
Jackson's editing of the interviews to make the soldiers sound pro-war is almost as sickening as the war itself. Regardless, the 7 or 8 minutes they have of colorized video footage is really quite amazing and well worth a look.
Rated 07 Sep 2020
70
62nd
As nice it was to see colorized footage, the restoration work didn't always look very good (and sometimes made it fell less, rather than more, real). I also wished the film had emphasized certain moments more, and frequently I felt that just showing the person that was talking at the moment would have made a stronger emotional point than the scenes that were being commented on. Still, several captivating scenes, particularly the encounters with the German POWs or their welcome back at home.
Rated 14 Sep 2020
75
75th
fascinating. makes ww1 more tangible to the modern generation.
Rated 03 Nov 2021
78
69th
Documentary that with just the use of footage and voice-over of veterans paints a very insightful picture about the on the ground experience of WWI.
Rated 24 Jan 2019
98
97th
Holy cow what a gorgeous film.
Rated 12 Dec 2019
3
21st
The frame rate smoothing looked bad and made me nauseated.
Rated 18 Dec 2018
65
50th
I had issues with the colorizing of some of the faces. I realize what some of the issues were but after watching the behind the scenes after the credits I think I would have left things black an white. The restoration was still very successful. The voice overs were really great.
Rated 21 Dec 2018
80
66th
Seen 2x
Rated 28 Dec 2018
81
80th
It would be a powerful work if it were entirely in black and white. The addition of colour adds a layer of intimacy and brings you closer to the horror of the accounts.
Rated 30 Dec 2018
81
53rd
Some images were used too much.
Rated 02 Feb 2019
50
14th
Pretty much a boring downer. The only thing I learned is that there was no celebration when it ended, and it reinforced my belief that it was an entirely pointless war.
Rated 05 Feb 2019
85
98th
Stunning.
Rated 27 Feb 2019
100
96th
A change of track for Mr Jackson (although 'Forgotten Silver' is superb in other ways.) This was as spellbinding as it was heart breaking.
Rated 21 Apr 2019
86
83rd
What an achievement in empathy!
Rated 29 Apr 2019
30
20th
Outstanding concept, intention and execution. I feel ashamed about being bored by it.
Rated 07 Jan 2020
98
94th
Incredible! To be able to experience a war that took place 100 years ago!
Rated 28 Sep 2019
60
65th
Best of Peter Jackson.
Rated 16 Dec 2019
50
12th
Watch this instead, it's on YouTube. It actually has living soldiers telling their story of the war. https://www.criticker.com/tv/The-Great-War-1964/
Rated 17 Jan 2020
83
73rd
Just like The Irishman, the technology is imperfect, rendering some uncanny valley here, but the intention that's conveyed makes it work anyway. Better than most war movies because the voice-over here is so revealing of just about the whole gamut of the war for these young men, who speak of its hardships, enjoyments, and whether or not it positively shaped them.
Rated 29 Jan 2020
76
54th
Extremely impressive experiment in making the past come alive. The restorated pictures and the added sound alongside the veteran interviews transport a piece of history to the here and now.
Rated 25 Feb 2020
74
68th
Adding sound and restorated visuals to old timey WW1 footage does an impressive job to bring the terrifying feeling of war to life. Probably the best way to "experience" the horror of WW1.
Rated 07 May 2020
85
88th
Peter Jackson and his team didn't try to create a comprehensive doc about WW1, but rather than shallow, I'd say it's focused; one reads that 10M soldiers died in the War, and the old quip "a million is a statistic" comes to mind. They Shall Not Grow Old is here to remind us that those were 10 million tragedies. Plus the recording of "Mademoiselle from Armentières" is a gift that keeps on giving.
Rated 10 Sep 2020
80
88th
Very successful in what it tries to achieve. Absolutely worth seeing.
Rated 09 May 2021
77
81st
The human aspect to ww1 presented here is fascinating. It being in color as well makes for a captivating experience, especially to younger audiences
Rated 06 Aug 2021
88
87th
9?
Rated 12 Aug 2021
63
57th
Host ratings: - / 76 / 74. Podcast review link: https://rydeorwrong.podcaster.de/rydeorwrong/folge-059-they-shall-not-grow-old-2018/
Rated 26 Jul 2023
99
98th
An absolute triumph. This is movie magic, breathing life into fragmented old film and conveying the horror, camaraderie, monotony and futility of war in a way that few other films come close to.
Rated 01 Aug 2023
85
70th
Very interesting documentary. Love the interview/narration format. Gave me a lot of insight into the realities of the time. It could drag on at times and I don't think the temporal aspects of the stories is addressed adequately (if at all). As a history lover, thoroughly enjoyed this.

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