Marking the centenary of The Great War, this will be essential.
It’s fitting that Peter Jackson will be making a documentary about WWI because his most famous films, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, were shaped by The Great War. As many of you will know, J.R.R. Tolkien served in the British Army and fought in France, most notably at the Battle of the Somme.
In fact, as you can see in the various documentaries and interviews on The Lord of the Rings DVDs, Tolkien channeled a lot of the horror that he saw on the battlefields into Middle Earth.
As for Jackson’s new feature documentary, the Oscar-winning director will be mining the archives of the BBC and London’s Imperial War Museum for unseen material. The film will be released in the U.K. as part of the BFI London Film Festival but it’s also going to be broadcast on the BBC.
This never-before-seen footage has been restored and hand-colorised. As for its narrative approach, Jackson will be telling the stories of those people who lived through the 1914-18 conflict. After hearing the synopsis, we’re thinking that it will mimic the ‘first-hand’ approach that was used at the start of every Band of Brothers episode.
Speaking about the documentary, Jackson said: “We’re making a film [that is] not the usual film you would expect on the First World War. We’re making a film that shows this incredible footage in which the faces of the men just jump out at you. It’s the people that come to life in this film. We have made a movie which shows the experience of what it was like to fight in this war, not strategy [or] battles.”
The film will be screened in cinemas and schools across the UK, and broadcast on BBC One; further details of theatrical distribution will be announced later this year at 1418NOW.org.uk
Here’s a look at what’s in store.
