VoyagerMN1986 Review of They Shall Not Grow Old

They Shall Not Grow Old (II) (2018)

As an American, Jackson shows me what the Western World owes to the British soldier

[26 November 2018]

To be sure, the French solder was brave, they faced the onslaught right into their country. The American WWI soldier was competent and the US played an important part in supplying the Allies and then in delivering the message that the Central Powers could not continue. The average German and central powers soldier had no choice in the matter. So, yes, this was a complex war like all wars. But there simply is no doubt that key factor in saving Europe in this war was the British solder. He was well trained, well equipped, stoically handled the challenges, and fought and won an extremely important war. Nowadays our kids are taught this war had no right and wrong side. That simply is not true. No matter how imperfect some aspects of the motives or poltical systems of the allies were, the choice was between enlightened forward looking democracies such as Britain and France, and eventually the US, and an utterly retrograde Germany. for Germany to have won and controlled Europe would have been a setback of huge proportions. In "They Shall Not Grow Old," Peter Jackson really brings the WWI Tommy to life with a nod to the professional British veteran solder at the beginning of the war that was worth ten German soldiers, to the entire generation of young, including very young solders that were the second echelon into the war but did the bulk of the fighting. The colorization and dubbing create a reality and presences that is in sharp contrast from the heretofore abstract and distant black and white soundless film clips that have until now have filtered and made that war less visceral, and less human Frankly not since Ken Burns "Civil War" has there been such innovation in war documentary