Peter Jackson's remake of WWI brings back humanity

I’m pretty stoked about this:

Many documentaries on the war are informative but, frankly, quite dull. In striving for objectivity, they lose sight of humanity. Rather than adopt the voice of god and newsreel look that characterizes the usual fare, Jackson has taken an active role in shaping the narrative for us with cutting-edge blockbuster cinematic techniques. He gives us characters to care about in showing the horror of trench warfare, the confusion and camaraderie of war. Though he uses original footage, it is digitally enhanced and colorized, screened in 3D, with recordings of remembrances from the soldiers themselves dramatically overlaid to create the sense that the figures we see onscreen are speaking to us (via).

"To memorialize these soldiers a hundred years later," he says, "is to try to bring some of their humanity back into the world again, to stop them being a black and white cliché.” In creating this moving memorial, Jackson goes far beyond the mandate of an educational film. He has used all the techniques at his disposal to make good on the promise in Robert Laurence Binyon’s 1914 poem “For the Fallen,” from which the documentary takes its title

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

For more on . . .

-N- Stuff  :  Documentaries : WWI : Peter Jackson

Poilus: A short film about any one of us

The “Poilus” - infantry soldiers in the French army, especially during WWI - are waiting to leave for the battlefield. Among them, Ferdinand, a young hare, is playing the harmonica. A signal is given, the attack begins. It’s on the no man’s land that he first encounters his enemy, a horrible creature.

by ISART DIGITAL

This short film is intriguing. Why the juxtaposition of the car in the opening scene and the tank? Is it humanity and war? 

The harmonica, like Ivan Denisovich's clean spoon, is his clinging to humanity. And when he killed the soldier wearing a different color, he killed himself - metaphorically. 

But also literally. Playing in the open battlefield was, essentially, suicide. All the soldiers heard him - and one might argue, were inspired by him - but then a shot rang out. Before the whistle.

But who shot him? 

The soldier clenching his fist is in blue, just Ferdinand. Did his own commander kill him? The one who ripped his little bit of humanity left and stomped it in the dirt? Or was it the enemy?

And who is the enemy? 

Using bunnies is brilliant because any association we have with them is kind and fluffy and a perfect gift for any child of any age because they're harmless! Bunnies don't fight wars. Bunnies don't kill - our enemies do. 

Once humans are taken out of the film, everyone can be anyone, which, I think, is the point.

The line between them and us is instantly blurred. All the bunnies look the same, act the same, and twitch the same. Suddenly, any one of us can be any one of them. And anyone of us can choose to play the harmonica, or pull the trigger. 

For more on . . .

-N- Stuff  :  WWII Vets - Former Enemies, Now Friends  :  Humanity

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