They Shall Not Grow Old, a World War II documentary directed by Peter Jackson. Be its technical achievements or its heart-rending depiction of what soldiers went through in the war. Though there is nothing preachy about it, there are lessons to learn here. It is now streaming on Netflix. A 100 minute film, it is not a dry delineation of events that documentaries on World Wars almost invariably are. It is a sort of reinvention of archival footage to present an immersive portrayal of the first of the Great Wars. Jackson, best known for directing the Lord of the Rings trilogy, has used modern post-production techniques, both visual and sound, including voice-acting and colourisation to bring alive World War II in all its terrible glory.
Years before 1914, when the Great War broke out, hostilities had been brewing between rival European powers over several matters. But the immediate reason due to which simmering tensions boiled over was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria in Sarajevo. It was, as the saying goes, the last straw. Suddenly, the British, French, and their allies were at loggerheads with the Germans, Austro-Hungarians, Ottomans and their allies. Thus began the biggest war the world had ever seen.
