This is an extraordinary film. Like most movies it'll pull at your emotions, one minute you're laughing, the next scared, the next the tears will be welling up.
Most of us will have seen grainy footage of WW1. The war started over a 100 years ago, and It's the age of the footage, and the jerkyness of the speed of the film that help us think of this particular war as a distant non relevant war. This film changes all of that, and helps bring us into the lives of the soldiers that took part.
The film starts in black and white and in a small box in the centre of the screen. As it continues the footage gets clearer, and the screen larger until the first transition into beautifully clear colour footage that fills the cinema screen. This first transition took my breath away it is just so good. The film gradually draws us in, until we are right there, in the trenches with the British and Germans as they fight each other. We then experience the sight and sounds of this horrendous war in the same way as the participants. You even hear the words they spoke while being filmed, Peter Jackson explaned in the Q&A that he used professional lip readers to find out what was said, and actors synced the words to what was being said on screen.
There is no narrator, but you do hear the voices of those that took part in the war who were interviewed in the 1960's and 70's, these snippets are sometimes funny, and sometime heartbreakingly sad.
The film draws to an end by returning to black and white, and as the screen starts to shrink back to the original size, we are slowly taken away from the horrors of the trenches.
This movie was just brilliant, and lovingly created by Peter Jackson and his team. Our screening was a one off, shown at the same time as the premier in London and included an interview with the director. If you do get the chance go and see in a cinema, you won't be disappointed.
Most of us will have seen grainy footage of WW1. The war started over a 100 years ago, and It's the age of the footage, and the jerkyness of the speed of the film that help us think of this particular war as a distant non relevant war. This film changes all of that, and helps bring us into the lives of the soldiers that took part.
The film starts in black and white and in a small box in the centre of the screen. As it continues the footage gets clearer, and the screen larger until the first transition into beautifully clear colour footage that fills the cinema screen. This first transition took my breath away it is just so good. The film gradually draws us in, until we are right there, in the trenches with the British and Germans as they fight each other. We then experience the sight and sounds of this horrendous war in the same way as the participants. You even hear the words they spoke while being filmed, Peter Jackson explaned in the Q&A that he used professional lip readers to find out what was said, and actors synced the words to what was being said on screen.
There is no narrator, but you do hear the voices of those that took part in the war who were interviewed in the 1960's and 70's, these snippets are sometimes funny, and sometime heartbreakingly sad.
The film draws to an end by returning to black and white, and as the screen starts to shrink back to the original size, we are slowly taken away from the horrors of the trenches.
This movie was just brilliant, and lovingly created by Peter Jackson and his team. Our screening was a one off, shown at the same time as the premier in London and included an interview with the director. If you do get the chance go and see in a cinema, you won't be disappointed.