War movies can’t capture that real 1,000 yard stare.
I wonder how long before some idiot demands they remove the cigarettes from the images.
They also did a lot to get the speed to look more natural.
If my grandfather had been thirty feet upwind, he would have been buried in France with his fellow soldiers, never returned to America and these sentiments would have never been thought or written. Wonder how many never came to exist due to the insanity from 1914-1945.
First time I saw the trailer for this , I actually recoiled in shock.
Also saw it last night. Highly recommended.
I watched “Apocalypse World War I” on the AHC Channel. It was a multi-part series that chronicled WWI from the beginning to the Armistice and was very good. I learned a so much I didn’t know. They used a lot of film footage — some of it was colorized. Not sure if it is available to watch online, but AHC might rerun it.
Thank you Very Much for making us aware of this film.
I physically go to the movies about once a decade, but I already have my ticket to the 3-D showing of this next week.
I viewed it last night. It is colorized and 3D which creates an amazing visual experience. But it is how these effects lend themselves to the humanization of the soldiers and resulting audience empathy which goes way beyond any bland historical understanding of WWI. My Dad served in France during that war, an important life experience about which he said little except to others with whom he had served.
I can’t recommend this highly enough - buy your tickets for the showing on the 27th now.
Absolutely a must to see it in 3D. The conversions were done with great skill and subtlety. At times you will feel like you are on the Western front yourself.
There is a lot more footage on the website for the movie. It’s incredible. It’s amazing how this process changes the men from looking like grainy sort of old looking fellows into what they really were: young men in the prime of life. You see it clearly now, and you it makes it more immediate when you say “many of those men died shortly after this film was taken”.
My son and saw it last night. Honestly, it was the most amazing cinematic experience we’ve ever had. If you go, be SURE to stay for the extra 30 minutes after the movie ends where the director talks about making the movie. That is as spellbinding as the film itself. What an achievement.
At the very end, the director talks about why he made the movie. He’s concerned that all the direct participants have passed on, most of their children have passed, and today we have only grandchildren with a direct family connection to the war (i.e., could talk to their grandparents about their experiences). We are starting to pass now and soon there will be zero direct connection to the war.
We went to dinner before the film and we discussed my grandfather’s role in the war. He fought for Germany on the Eastern Front against the Russians, was captured, was a POW for a year, escaped, and walked back to Germany. He wrote a thirty page memoir about his experiences which I have to get out today and give to my son to read.
If you see only one movie this year, make it this one!
Bump
Mark
Here are three YouTubes about this movie.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUReYO2n06w
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrabKK9Bhds
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdY-1u-rk_M
Whew, I thought it was running Dec.17th THROUGH the 27th but at least I can and will get to see it on the 27th!
Historians will one day look back at WWI and the event that lead to the end of Western Civilization.