Peter Jackson , who has directed the "Lord of the Rings" series and "King Kong" series and other masterpieces , this time showed us a brand new epic——
A documentary about World War I [They are no longer getting old] .
Unlike the war documentary that is often seen in the past, the director did not make any direct comments in this one-and-a-half-hour documentary;
The narration is all edited from the recordings of World War I veterans . In addition, Jackson did something bolder:
Color the screen of all video materials .
This move has caused a lot of controversy.
When it was released at the London Film Festival this year , there was even a 3D format - Jackson, who is good at visual effects , will bring everyone a full sense of reality this time.
But this "realism" is not bought by critics: for them, the documentary of World War I, I am afraid that the black and white pictures are the real "realism", with color as if watching science fiction.
The reputation of the film is not affected by these controversies:
Real recordings, real stories, told from the mouths of these parties are undoubtedly more powerful than any description.
From the perspectives of politicians and leaders, we have seen too much of the pattern and scale of wars across borders and continents;
But for these British boys who were only ten or twenty years old at the time, war was just an endless action before their eyes——
They listened, they attacked, they never questioned loudly, they secretly wanted to survive.
In this documentary, Jackson specially selected materials from the BBC’s 1964 program "World War I: The Great War" ;
Jackson believes that the interviewees at the time were “no longer young but not too old,” and this was the right stage for him to tell about their experience.
These veterans remember every detail from before departure to after returning, and remember every little thing that accompanied them through the difficult trenches.
They have lived for two wars , was admitted to most human history era of peace -
But if you want to get out of that painful memory , only those who have experienced it will know it. It's easier said than done.
①
The war drum under the sky, the god of death stands on the battlefield
On June 28, 1914, on the National Day of Serbia in the Balkans, the heirs of the Austro-Hungarian Empire , Grand Duke Ferdinand and his wife , were shot and killed by the nationalist and young Bosnian student Principe .
This incident led to the Austro-Hungarian Empire declaring war on Serbia a month later , and the First World War broke out.
The veterans in the documentary still remember the atmosphere at the time:
All summer we have heard about the big troubles from the Balkans and Serbia , but we seem to be far away and don’t worry at all—
It wasn't until the news that Britain and Germany might be at war.
"We finished a game of rugby with a team of Germans, and in the middle of the dinner, someone suddenly sent news of the war..."
Almost every underage teenager lied about his age , and all the officers put on cover for them.
Every soldier who signed up for the army thought this was just an ordinary battle, and thought that they would be able to go home in a few months at most .
Even if only to complete the task, the boys who volunteered were still fighting spirits -even though every mother was in grief.
Decades later, when they mentioned their feelings at the time, they would still laugh and say that everyone hoped that this had never happened, but after returning safely, they would not regret this experience.
"Although it was so terrible at the time, let me do it again, I will still go to the battlefield without looking back ."
At that time, they all regarded it as ordinary travel and service, and they didn't realize how unusual this time was : "I think about it later, I have never been so excited in my life ."
In the eyes of the officers, they were thin, sallow-faced, and fearful children, middle school-aged, dressed in uniforms and went to war.
A young man said, officer, the boots are so big.
The officer only returned him: there were no inappropriate shoes, only inappropriate feet.
The team is also equipped with many military razors , but where do these underage boys use it? It can only be used to cut meat, if there is still meat to eat.
At the beginning of the camp, the food was okay, the bread, butter and bacon would not be less; training can also be carried, no one feels bullied.
But the Western Front is a bit different. Soldiers train to Dover and then by boat to the other side of the Strait of Calais , then walk to Belgium - in front of the ruins and ears of gunfire , all of a sudden changed much.
Dead people and rats were everywhere, and few living creatures were seen. Hidden in the trench, I dare not look up. Once you fall asleep, it is not clear whether you can wake up again.
"You don't know one day, your partner who played football since childhood, lay beside you- a corpse ."
Soldiers will even pick up biscuits left by the French two years ago , and they can taste the moss that grows when they eat them .
And the smell of dead corpses that skyrocketed—the rotten flesh of cows and horses, the bitten military uniforms, and maggots and flying insects everywhere, which they will never forget in the next life.
"That 's the smell of death ."
This is the case every day, and everyone’s reactions are different. One veteran said: Anyway, the next one will be you . What's the difference?
[Merry Christmas] tells the truth about a truce between the two sides for the holidays -although such a famous complete ceasefire is an example, the soldiers on both sides are indeed not as hostile as people think.
Many veterans in the documentary mentioned that some of the captured German soldiers had served as waiters in the UK. Most of them were just like them. They had their own careers and lives before , and were suddenly drawn to participate in the war.
When they were bored, they would even set up slogans on the sidelines to make fun of each other ; they took photos together and grabbed each other's hats to play: "Those Bavarians are mostly really friendly and honest people . The Prussians are quite bastards..."
They don't hate each other, they respect each other, and no one wants to fight—everyone just hopes that the war will end soon , and also wish the enemy soldiers can leave alive.
"We don't even care who won the war, we just want to go home early ."
When the regime begins to smash, it is the people themselves who will always suffer . The prime minister's strategy and the command of the generals are all just guesses, orders, and vague concepts to them .
As the war goes on, everyone's mentality is changing-they have witnessed the most tragic casualties , and they have also experienced the most sincere friendship .
In the flesh and blood and the roar of artillery shells, the war in their eyes is no longer the simple task before departure:
"When I left home in 1914 and when I returned in 1917 , everyone saw a different war ."
②
Elegy in sorrow, they shine with the sun and the moon
It is these fragmented individuals , this constitutes a war a world scale -
Soldiers and wars are influencing and changing each other; in recent years, we have been able to see more and more film and television works, looking at cruel historical facts from a personal perspective :
The lives of all people involved in the war were completely changed by cruel political and military conflicts, with or without consciousness .
The same is war group portrait , the same individual perspective , also make full use of video power -
Nolan's almost documentary [Dunkirk] caused controversy.
Churchill's command was an inaudible voice from the general's radio; the hometown on the other side of the sea was the clarion call for the fishermen to come by.
The boys had only the tip of the sail , the bomber on their head , and the faint white cliff on the other side of the skyline .
Who won the war? It is the Allied government. Who saved them? It is themselves and ordinary people .
"Retreat? Escape? Just come back, just come back alive . Have a cup of hot tea."
The same is true of modern warfare . Regarding the discussion of the inner world of soldiers , Ang Lee focused on Billy Lynn ’s experience alone in this movie :
He became a hero returning from Iraq because of an accidental video , but no one knew that the greatest honor recorded was his most painful day——
He undoubtedly represents everyone who has gone through the flames of war: it has been riddled with holes where others can't see it ; but how difficult it is to desire to be understood and embraced by the joyful people around him.
North American critics scoffed at such personal expressions:
Under the majesty of the country, in the pastime of mass entertainment, such entanglement and complexity are undoubtedly redundant in the eyes of some critics.
The warrior's shaky heart continues to be marginalized in the indifference of generations .
Regarding the "happy service time" mentioned by the veterans in the documentary many times , just like in "Killing Generation" , when there is no exchange of fire, everyone uses twelve points of humor to dispel boredom;
What is the real battlefield like? The soldiers are real, and so are the pleasures and sufferings .
It was the deadly brotherhood and the tragic death and injury that caused them to have a deep bond with the war-they could not leave the battlefield, and the smoke of gunpowder in their hearts could not dissipate.
Jackson personalised this documentary and dedicated this "soldier's common experience" to his grandfather , a soldier in England:
"I grew up with my dad and have listened to his grandfather's story since I was a child . I am also a child of World War I. After that, my father immigrated to New Zealand and met my mother."
It took several years to make this movie, and for him it is undoubtedly a process of learning from his grandfather .
Interestingly, when the BBC broadcast the documentary, a viewer actually also video materials in the movie opening, saw his grandfather -
This lady from Essex saw her grandfather wearing a neat uniform on the screen, standing on the front line of the French countryside, talking with a police officer.
She was shocked and moved . This is undoubtedly one of the positive effects brought by the film: how many people will find repercussions in this image ?
" They will never grow old, unlike those of us who have stayed.
They will never be troubled by advanced age, and will never be tired by the declining years.
When the sun goes down, when the morning comes, we will think of them. "
Just like Camus, who was less than one year old, his father died on the battlefield of World War I, and the forty-year-old man who stood in front of his father's grave was already older than the man buried under this slab.
——"Suddenly warmth and compassion overflowed his chest." "And there is only madness and chaos, that is, the son is older than his father ."
" All the children who sleep in this land are children . They are the fathers of those who are gray-haired at this time and think they know how to live."
Binion ’s poems are recited as a memorial in Europe and the United States at 11 a.m. on November 11 each year ;
People put down their work, adults and children held hands and walked around the monument silently , remembering the soldiers who died in World War I , and commemorating the end of the war . This year marks the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War.
The history of mankind is smeared with blood, surrounded by artillery fire, and laid the foundations of graves.
And as everyone said over and over again, what a living person can do is not to forget :
Everyone, every life, is worth it.
They don't grow old anymore -when they are asleep, they are like the boy who has just put on military uniforms , full of vigor.
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Text: Yorkshire Viking
The article comes from WeChat public account: movie detoxification
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