A truly remarkable documentary has come to downtown’s Robinson Film Center, 617 Texas Street. They Shall Not Grow Old is a years-long project of filmmaker Peter Jackson, director of Lord of the Rings, and brings the story of the soldiers who fought in WWI to colorful life.
They Shall Not Grow Old Trailer
Whether or not you are a WWI buff or a lover of documentary dramas, this film is worth seeing. Entirely new technology was created to bring this film to life. After They Shall Not Grow Old is an additional 30-minute interview with Jackson where he talks about the challenges of making the century-old herky-jerky, low-quality black and white film compelling. The thought and process that went into it is remarkable, from using lip readers and adding sound to finding the correct accents for the soldiers. Jackson makes the soldiers and their stories more real and profound than modern audiences have ever experienced.
As expected, the reviews have uniformly called this project remarkable. Do not miss it.
They Shall Not Grow Old starts Friday, Feb. 22 at Robinson Film Center.
