I guess I'll simply echo UnionMan's sentiments. It's a well-balanced presentation of what used to be called The Great War before we learned to number them.
It covers all aspects of the war and pulls no punches.
There is footage here that you are guaranteed not to have seen before. A distant column of cavalrymen ride their horses along a dirt road. A huge explosion covers the center of the column with a cloud of dust. The last part of the column rides around the smoke. When, finally, the dust clears we see the column has halted and is looking back at the debris, which includes a couple of smudgy black figures flat on the ground, one of them a thrashing horse.
Personalities are explored and politics brought in just enough to illuminate the battles that form the centerpiece of the film. Enough for us to see the seeds of the next war being sown.
The images are finely defined in crisp black and white. The motion is smoothed out and takes place in real time, adjusted for the change in camera speed since the early days of cinema.
What a bitter thing war is. The film prompts one to wonder why we rush to embrace another one every twenty years or so.
There will probably not be another documentary dealing with World War I that will be the equal of this one.
It covers all aspects of the war and pulls no punches.
There is footage here that you are guaranteed not to have seen before. A distant column of cavalrymen ride their horses along a dirt road. A huge explosion covers the center of the column with a cloud of dust. The last part of the column rides around the smoke. When, finally, the dust clears we see the column has halted and is looking back at the debris, which includes a couple of smudgy black figures flat on the ground, one of them a thrashing horse.
Personalities are explored and politics brought in just enough to illuminate the battles that form the centerpiece of the film. Enough for us to see the seeds of the next war being sown.
The images are finely defined in crisp black and white. The motion is smoothed out and takes place in real time, adjusted for the change in camera speed since the early days of cinema.
What a bitter thing war is. The film prompts one to wonder why we rush to embrace another one every twenty years or so.
There will probably not be another documentary dealing with World War I that will be the equal of this one.