They Shall Not Grow Old, Showcase Cinema, Walsall - review

Oscar-winning director Peter Jackson (The Lord of the Rings trilogy) has a personal interest in the history of WW1 and was asked to look at the BBC and IWM archives to see if the material could be brought up to date.

The result is a brilliant new look at that conflict through the eyes and ears of the men who took part in it. Using state-of-the-art technology and cutting-edge techniques, as well as amazing colouring techniques, the documentary often looks as though it has been filmed very recently and brings out details that were not discernible in the original footage.

They even went so far as to get professional lip-readers to work out what the soldiers were saying in these silent films, had these converted into dialogue and then added to the sound track by actors.. This creates some uncanny moments where the characters on the screen acquire personalities which bring life to the otherwise rather static film.

The world premiere took place at the British Film Institute last night and simulcast live to 249 cinemas across Great Britain.

The events are presented more or less chronologically, beginning with the memories of how the British Expeditionary Force was conscripted and trained. Most of the men interviewed thought that war was an evil experience but claimed that it had been good for their own development.

It also showed how this new army of recruits became fit and healthy very quickly.

They had bread, butter and bacon for breakfast—though it was only streaky bacon and nicknamed lance-corporals’ bacon because it had only one small streak of bacon in it.

In the trenches the troops had to endure lice, rats, trench feet and sometimes the weather was so cold that their boots became frozen to their feet. Artillery barrages were frequent and there were poison gas shells to contend with.

With the arrival of tanks and the Americans the war swung in favour of the Allies and ended on 11th November 1918. The soldiers were sent home where they were met with sausage rolls, buns ad cups of tea, but because of the close friendships formed over the four years of fighting the soldiers did see themselves as a race apart from the civilians at home.

There did seem to be one or two omissions from the narrative. There was no real comment about the conduct of the war. The officer class had learned little from conflict around the world. And so the killing rate of machine guns was very much underestimated. The devastating effect of something as simple as barbed wire on advancing troops was also underestimated and these were the two main reasons why instead of a quick battle between charging cavalries the war settled into four long years of trench warfare. The troops also complained about the fact that they were never really told what was going on.

The other missing feature is the total lack of mention of the part played by black colonial soldiers.

The British West Indian Regiment sent 16 000 men to fight, but those on the Western Front were never given rifles as it was thought improper that a black solder could kill a white man, even if he were a German enemy. They were given jobs like digging trenches and toilets, as well as transporting shells and ammunition to the front line. Of the BWIR 185 men were killed in action, though, strangely, more than a thousand dies of illness.

There were tales of racial discrimination against a black Canadian battalion and the participation of coloured Americans caused a surge in white supremacist behaviour immediately after the war,

This is an important documentary and, as I understand, copies of it will be sent to every secondary school in the country. It will very probably be shown on the BBC in the near future.

By Jerald Smith