Movies that talk about war generally have a problem: authenticity. The more real the war scene, the more shocking it is. Most classic war movies have very real war scenes.
For example, "Blood Battle on Hacksaw Ridge", the film begins with a quiet and happy life in a small town, and in the second half, it begins to talk about the battlefield. The cruel war scenes are thrilling.
[Real war scenes in "Blood War Hacksaw Ridge"]
Another example is the classic war film "Saving Private Ryan". The real and cruel scenes of beach landing and street fighting make people feel the horror of war, and the true side of human nature is also revealed in the face of war.
["Saving Private Ryan" beach landing scene]
The real war scenes in these classic films show the thinking of war and reflect on the meaning of war. But in terms of the authenticity of the war scenes, these classic movies are no better than this one: "They Don't Get Old Anymore."
This film is a war documentary, and because of the documentary, authenticity is a very important feature of it. The film is about the First World War from 1914 to 1918. More than 100 years have passed. How to record it truly? The director thought of a way: image restoration.
During the First World War, photography and videography have matured. The First World War also had a lot of documentary videos, like the following.
[Military leaders review recruits]
[Change defense on the battlefield]
The work of the film "They Are No Longer Growing Old" is to restore the original image data, restore the black and white, unclear video to color, high-definition, and at the same time sort out a clue to let It becomes a movie. Thanks to the development of film restoration technology, the restored black and white image data has become like this.
[The artillery is launching a long-range attack]
[The tanks of the Allies are on the battlefield]
[Soldiers eat breakfast on the battlefield]
In order to ensure the authenticity of this documentary, director Peter Jackson collected a large amount of World War I video materials and visited many veterans.
The impact data more than 100 years ago were silent films, and there was no sound. Therefore, the real challenge of ensuring the sound was great. To this end, the film's creative team did a lot of work.
Background sound film, is a war veteran's personal memories . Some people will say: 100 years have passed since a stop, where can I find veterans? In fact, it was not until 2011 that the last World War I veteran passed away. The film has been prepared for many years and a lot of oral materials have been compiled.
In order to ensure that the sound is true and accurate, the director also hired many lip language experts to interpret the soldiers' language on the battlefield from video data more than 100 years ago.
In order to restore the gunshots and gun barrels on the battlefield, the film’s main creators dubbed some scenes professionally, all of which were dubbed with corresponding weapons.
[The sound team is dubbing the bombardment scene]
After talking about the authenticity of this movie, let's talk about the story of this movie.
The film does not blindly emphasize the cruelty and bloody of the war, but: tells the war from another angle-the daily life of the soldiers.
Even during the war, between shelling bombings, soldiers have to live, and their lives on the battlefield have become the focus of this movie.
For example: At that time, the troops of the Allied Powers penetrated into the hinterland of the German-occupied area. The battlefield supply line was very long and it was difficult to supply. The water that soldiers drink daily is contained in gasoline drums, and the gasoline drums still have a strong smell of gasoline.
[The two soldiers are drinking water, and the water is packed in gasoline cans and transported to the front line]
If water can't be transported in, the wine will be even more difficult. The beer transported by the logistics unit is mixed with a lot of water, and the beer is very weak. But even so, when it came time to drink beer every week, the soldiers rushed up like crazy.
[When drinking every week, the soldiers rushed over like crazy]
The captured German soldiers and the British soldiers did not imagine the deep hatred, because they are young people of the same age, so they often chat together, and occasionally make a joke.
[Soldiers are chatting and joking with the captives]
On the battlefield, going to the toilet is also a big problem. Although the conditions are unexpectedly difficult, it is also very funny. You can go and read this paragraph for yourself, I won't be spoiled.
However, this lightness and fun does not conceal the cruelty of the war. The shadow of death has always loomed over these young people. Stray bullets, fragments of artillery shells, plague, and other infectious diseases may take the lives of soldiers. As the soldiers said, the battlefield is a "green hell", and any mistake can take life.
[The corpses are everywhere on the battlefield]
There is a classic line in the movie: " The only reason you love war is that you have never participated in a war! " Before stepping onto the battlefield, many young people had heroic fantasies and were bewildered by the military advertisements at that time. After the battle, everything was not what they thought.
[Recruitment poster: an Englishman is worth ten Germans]
In 1918, after the end of the First World War, many British soldiers returned to their hometowns. Back then, they walked onto the battlefield with heroic fantasies. However, after they came back, they were out of touch with the world, and they were struggling with the trauma of the battlefield. This is the profound reflection of the film.
2018 marks the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I. In this four-year war, nearly 10 million soldiers were killed on the battlefield. The release of this film is also to commemorate and reflect on the First World War.
Director Peter Jackson put aside the commercial film at hand and walked into a reflection on war. Peter Jackson, the commercial director of "The Lord of the Rings" and "Shakespeare in Love", maintained restraint and calmness in this movie. There are no grandstanding and sensational scenes, but every picture is real and powerful.
[Director Peter Jackson]
He also knew that this film could not make much money and did not have much box office, but he still completed a lot of work to present such a sincere film to the audience.
Another reason for this is probably: director Peter Jackson's grandfather is a soldier on the station, and the beginning of the film also pays tribute to this veteran.
[Grandfather of director Peter Jackson]
Reflecting on war is to avoid war, because after the First World War, nearly tens of millions of soldiers were killed on the battlefield, but the war never ended there. World War II, Cold War...Terrorism today.
Watching this movie, I hope more people will cherish peace and love peace.
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Movies made from battlefield videos and memories of veterans restore the real, interesting, and cruelest battlefield
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