Skip to main content

Another Awesome Doc and Those Oscar Nominations


Another Awesome Documentary and Those Oscar Nominations

They Shall Not Grow Old (New Zealand/UK https://www.theyshallnotgrowold.film/)
 New Zealand director Peter Jackson is best known for the fictional Lord of the Rings trilogy.  But it’s his longtime interest in military history that has led to this amazing work, released during the centenary of the armistice that ended the First World War and dedicated to a grandfather who served in the British army from 1910-1919.  On January 21 I braved extreme windchills to see it on the big screen, a one-day only showing at Cineplex theatres in Canada.
            The painstaking production drew from some 100 hours of archival footage originally shot during the war itself, and 600 hours of audio recordings by WWI veterans made in the 1960s and 1970s. These voices of firsthand experience provide all the narration.  Given the variable quality of extant archival images, their lack of sound, different frame-rate film speeds, etc., Jackson’s team had to overcome a number of technical challenges, which he describes in detail in an extended commentary following the closing credits.  That includes the decision to apply a meticulous colourization process to some of the footage which brings the scenes more intensely and fully to life before our eyes. For more analysis see: https://filmmakermagazine.com/106589-the-documentary-masterpiece-that-is-peter-jacksons-they-shall-not-grow-old/#.XEdweFxKiM9.
            The results are, in a word, awesome.  The narrative, focused on British infantry troops, proceeds chronologically through the phases of the war.  Watching the early views of eager fresh faces in training one wonders how few will survive four years hence.  The film’s first part looks back to historic newsreel black-and-white images, sometimes juxtaposed beneath the garish colours of wartime propaganda posters. Then the view expands to strikingly immersive full-screen colour. In the remainder of the film Jackson also occasionally uses pixilated black-and-white stills from his collection of wartime propaganda magazines.
Any romantic notions of battle are quickly disabused by the ensuing devastation and horrors of trench warfare along the Western front.  Nothing is spared: the muck and the blood, total lack of hygiene and privacy (the lice and the rats), decaying corpses of men and horses, poison gas, barbed wire and blasted no-man’s land.  But amid the carnage there is also a certain camaraderie among ordinary soldiers, extended even to captured German prisoners.  When the armistice is announced there is subdued relief, no sense of celebration among the men who will return to mass unemployment and a civilian society that little understands and wants to forget.
            The documentary does not attempt to offer a complete picture of the so-called Great War.  Staying with the situation of British facing German foot soldiers, it includes the role of artillery and early motorized tanks but not that of the airforce or navy, or the role of colonial troops and those of other nations.  In his commentary Jackson also alludes to the important role of women in wartime production on the home front as a subject beyond the scope of his film.  What They Shall Not Grow Old does accomplish, and brilliantly so, is to recall with unmatched realism and immediacy the experiences of enlisted men during that cataclysmic conflict a century ago.  A  

                 
Those 2019 Oscar nominations

First a word about the Golden Globes which I don’t take too seriously.  It was ridiculous for the musical biopic Bohemian Rhapsody to win “best drama” (though I don’t think it’s as bad as many critics lament) while Vice was put in the “musical or comedy” category (it was neither). Globe wins for Rhapsody and for Green Book (another controversial choice) seem to have benefited their Oscar prospects with best-picture nominations.
            The egregious omission on the best picture list is Barry Jenkins’ If Beale Street Could Talk, superior to either of the above.  The inclusion of Black Panther, the first superhero movie to make it into this category, is obviously a nod to its theme of Black empowerment and box-office popularity.  I would have loved to see The Rider in there (my #2 film of 2018, it was named best film by the U.S. National Society of Film Critics), but it’s a small independent so had no chance.  The best news is to see Roma, a genuine masterwork, nominated for both best picture and best foreign-language film, tied for a leading 10 nominations with The Favourite, also one of my best. Roma has to be a prohibitive favorite in the foreign-language category.  For best picture its strongest competition may be the star-heavy A Star is Born.  Nicest surprise is to see the unknown Yalitza Aparicio get nominated as lead actress for Roma, whose director Alfonso CuarĂ³n has a good chance in the best director category.
            Biggest omission in the lead actor category is Ethan Hawke who topped most critics’ polls for his performance in First Reformed, though its director Paul Schrader did get a nomination for original screenplay.  Watch for more thoughts on what or who should win and will win in the various categories closer to the February 24 awards ceremony.    



Comments

Popular posts from this blog

First New Year Movies Post

First, a few comments on the 77 th “Golden Globes”.   Netflix had no less than three of the five nominees in the major category of best dramatic feature— The Irishman , Marriage Story , and The Two Popes .   Yet these collectively scored only one minor win—Laura Dern in a supporting category for Marriage Story .   (I still expect all three to be in the running for the Oscar best picture nominations to be announced January 13.)   The biggest surprise was the big-screen epic 1917 taking the top award of best drama as well as best director for Sam Mendes, giving it an undeniable boost ahead of a January 10 North American wide release.   Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood took three Globes including for best musical or comedy.   When it comes to movie awards, the streaming services have yet to catch up to these made-for-theatrical-release features.   Series are another matter as streaming increasingly dominates.   I was glad to see Olivia Colman win for her superb portrayal of Queen Eliza

New Year Post: Best Movies of 2019 and Best Movies of the Decade

The Ten Best Movies of 2019 Below are very brief descriptions of my favorite films of this past year. Most have been the subject of longer reviews.   For reference to these I have indicated both the blog post dates and the page number(s) in the 2019 collected reviews document.   I have also added a list of a dozen documentaries that most impressed, with information links and review dates and page numbers if applicable.   Parasite South Korean director Bong Joon Ho’s savage satire of his society’s class divides earned the Cannes film festival’s top prize Palme d’Or and should be the favorite for the best international feature film (previously best foreign-language film) Oscar to be announced February 9.   Don’t be surprised if it also makes it into the main best picture category, nominations for which will be announced on January 13.   (Reviewed 30 October, p. 67) The Two Popes Brazilian director Fernando Meirelles’ insightful imagining of this unusual relationship features

The Holiday Edition: New Views from the Big Screen to Home Viewing

The Holiday Edition: New Views from the Big Screen to Home Streaming 27 December 2021 Recently in a Cineplex theatre I went to see Guillermo del Toro’s carnivalesque Nightmare Alley (B) which has tons of psycho-noirish atmosphere over its 150 minutes. It’s definitely lacking the Christmas spirit so be warned.   (I had somewhat of a nightmarish time after as I got stranded with car engine failure.) In “Alley” Willem Dafoe has a small role as a creepy carny. That evening the “Crave” channel featured Dafoe in the lead role as a tormented soul in Abel Ferrara’s nightmarish 2019 psychodrama Siberia (C).    If anything, it’s even more grotesque and ghastly.   So bring on the heartwarming holiday favorites! As usual there is a vast amount of content being added to streaming platforms. Netflix seems to add another series almost every day. Worth checking out is the four-episode docuseries Animal (A) that starts with the predatory world of big cats.   And speaking of large cats and the murde