Change Your Image
SudaNim
Reviews
Our World War (2014)
Incredibly well done
The BBC do a good job with drama-documentaries, and this is a contender for their best yet. I watched it on release in 2014 and, 6 years on, have just watched them all again.
Forget a sterile narration of the strategic direction of WW1, these three episodes look at real events from the war and the stories are on a much more personal level, showing the war as a dynamic, mobile affair rather than focusing on the stalemate of the trenches. This gives an insight into the sort of horrors our grandfather/great grandfather/great great grandfather etc might have experienced. Definitely not for children, as the language and violence is on the strong side.
The endings feature the real recorded voices of the people whose stories are told and I thought that was a genius touch.
The only negative I can find is that there are only 3 episodes.
Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2020)
Enjoyable continuation from original film
If you weren't a fan of the original Borat film, then this probably won't be a hit with you. If however, you were laughing at Cohen's antics in the original film, then you will know what to expect and will probably love it.
Maria Bakalova was a co-star more than a supporting actress - likely down to Borat's notoriety from the original film - and the script relied heavily on her being convincing in her interactions with the American public. She pulled it off well.
The standout moment featured Rudy Giuliani. Will be interesting to see how much damage that does to him...
They Shall Not Grow Old (2018)
Landmark film
I first heard about this on TV before it had a run in the cinema. The method Jackson has used to create the film caught my attention and the clips on TV made this a must-see for me.
The film starts off in a similar vein to other WW1 documentaries, with archive B&W footage. The narration though is not a voiceover artist but the voices of those who were actually there, recorded 50-60 years ago. That alone makes it captivating.
From what I'd seen on TV, I knew Jackson had added colour and sound, and adjusted the speed of the film to compensate for the old hand-cranked cameras. But knowing that didn't detract from the moment when the change came. I don't think I have been so captivated by a film since the opening scenes of Saving Private Ryan.
The film is destined to become a landmark in film-making, where technology and tenacity meet resulting in a film of such high quality. This will no doubt end up as a valuable teaching aid for students of WW1 history for many years to come.