A new Peter Jackson film opens today at cinemas nationally but it is not a new installment in the ‘Hobbit’ or ‘Lord of the Rings’ franchise.
Created to mark the centenary of World War I, They Shall Not Grow Old is a homage to the soldiers who defended their country in that conflict.
Premiering simultaneously in Australia and New Zealand and in the UK at the BFI London Film Festival, They Shall Not Grow Old consists of original black-and-white war footage that has been colourised and converted to 3D to give it new life for modern audiences.
Jackson, who has long been fascinated with this period of history, in particular, World War I, spent four years painstakingly restoring the war footage, adding colour and clearer sound.
“I wanted to reach through the fog of time and pull these men into the modern world, so they can regain their humanity once more – rather than be seen only as Charlie Chaplin-type figures in the vintage archive film,” explains Jackson. “By using our computing power to erase the technical limitations of 100-year-old cinema, we can see and hear the Great War as they experienced it.”
They Shall Not Grow Old was created entirely using footage from the Imperial War Museum London and audio from BBC archives.
https://youtu.be/EHYRfukHToc
Tricia Tuttle, artistic director of the BFI London Film Festival, says “Peter’s film makes these people seem so alive and gives an uncanny sense the footage was shot recently. It offers new understanding of the human experience of life at the front – using original audio and moving image archive, he allows the soldier to tell their own stories.”
Jackson, who is best known for his debut film shot in Christchurch, Heavenly Creatures, and for his Hobbit and Lord of the Rings trilogies, also has a new science fiction fantasy, Mortal Engines, starring Hugo Weaving, released this December.
