Remembrance Sunday

[I am Rod Hull]

At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them.

 

Edited 8 November 2020 by I am Rod Hull

[ealingfox]

Actually it's Remembrance Sunday. Armistice Day is on Wednesday. Please have more respect for our Fallen.

[I am Rod Hull]

5 minutes ago, ealingfox said:

Actually it's Remembrance Sunday. Armistice Day is on Wednesday. Please have more respect for our Fallen.

Yes, I did realise my mistake. Amended.

[WigstonWanderer]

Thought our bugle guy did about the best rendition I’ve ever heard before the match.

[Dr The Singh]

Respect

[leicsmac]

Lest We Forget.

 

Never Again.

[Guest worth_the_wait]

For those of you interested in World War 1 ...

 

If you haven't seen it before, I'd strongly recommend watching the documentary/film "They shall not grow old" on BBC2 tonight at 10.45pm.

 

It takes old black and white film from 1914-18, colourizes and redigitizes it, and adds a soundtrack (either from people at the time, or recreating from lip-reading).

 

It brings WW1 to life like no other programme before.   It really is amazing, and well worth watching.

[WigstonWanderer]

1 hour ago, worth_the_wait said:

For those of you interested in World War 1 ...

 

If you haven't seen it before, I'd strongly recommend watching the documentary/film "They shall not grow old" on BBC2 tonight at 10.45pm.

 

It takes old black and white film from 1914-18, colourizes and redigitizes it, and adds a soundtrack (either from people at the time, or recreating from lip-reading).

 

It brings WW1 to life like no other programme before.   It really is amazing, and well worth watching.

Yes, watched it when it first came out, quite incredible what they’ve done there.

[Parafox]

On 08/11/2020 at 20:26, worth_the_wait said:

For those of you interested in World War 1 ...

 

If you haven't seen it before, I'd strongly recommend watching the documentary/film "They shall not grow old" on BBC2 tonight at 10.45pm.

 

It takes old black and white film from 1914-18, colourizes and redigitizes it, and adds a soundtrack (either from people at the time, or recreating from lip-reading).

 

It brings WW1 to life like no other programme before.   It really is amazing, and well worth watching.

Thanks for the tip-off. I watched it on iPlayer yesterday. Amazing, shocking, horrifying and difficult to watch at times. It really brought the horrors and the senselessness of war home to me. 

[Guest worth_the_wait]

7 hours ago, Parafox said:

Thanks for the tip-off. I watched it on iPlayer yesterday. Amazing, shocking, horrifying and difficult to watch at times. It really brought the horrors and the senselessness of war home to me. 

I'm glad you managed to see it.   As you say, it's uncomfortable viewing at times, but it's the best programme I've seen about the soldiers in a war.   Most war TV programmes concentrate on the military actions, which is not wrong in itself.   But you rarely get documentaries about the actual soldiers and what it what like for them.

 

What is so special about this programme is how it brings WW1 to life.   All previous film is in black and white, and often poor stuttering quality at that.   It somehow almost makes them appear as cartoon characters, which obviously isn't intended ... but someone it just never looked real.   Here you can see everyone one of them as a human being - son, brother, nephew, father.   It's poignant stuff.

 

The production of this film is amazing.  It sets the scene in black and white with them joining up and training, but when they get over to the Continent, the film comes to life with colour.  

 

There's some humour amongst the film, and it superbly shows the craziness of war.   One minute they're bored stiff twiddling their thumbs, next minute taking part in organised savagery beyond our comprehension, next minute caring for and chatting with prisoners of war, next minute getting some sexual pleasures from the local mademoiselles.

 

Some of the most poignant bits were at the end, where the news of the end of the war was greeted with utter resignation ... them being mentally and physically exhausted.   And the empty feeling of no longer being needed.   Effectively unemployed.

 

And when they got back home, no one could understand what they had been through ... even if they had tried to understand, and by the sounds of it most civilians weren't interested anyway.  It was like they'd gone through hell, for nothing.   

 

The very last words of the film summed up the utter banality of it all.   When a soldier went back to work after ages away, one civilian said to him "oh I haven't seen you for a while.   Have you been working nights?"

 

[Parafox]

19 minutes ago, worth_the_wait said:

I'm glad you managed to see it.   As you say, it's uncomfortable viewing at times, but it's the best programme I've seen about the soldiers in a war.   Most war TV programmes concentrate on the military actions, which is not wrong in itself.   But you rarely get documentaries about the actual soldiers and what it what like for them.

 

What is so special about this programme is how it brings WW1 to life.   All previous film is in black and white, and often poor stuttering quality at that.   It somehow almost makes them appear as cartoon characters, which obviously isn't intended ... but someone it just never looked real.   Here you can see everyone one of them as a human being - son, brother, nephew, father.   It's poignant stuff.

 

The production of this film is amazing.  It sets the scene in black and white with them joining up and training, but when they get over to the Continent, the film comes to life with colour.  

 

There's some humour amongst the film, and it superbly shows the craziness of war.   One minute they're bored stiff twiddling their thumbs, next minute taking part in organised savagery beyond our comprehension, next minute caring for and chatting with prisoners of war, next minute getting some sexual pleasures from the local mademoiselles.

 

Some of the most poignant bits were at the end, where the news of the end of the war was greeted with utter resignation ... them being mentally and physically exhausted.   And the empty feeling of no longer being needed.   Effectively unemployed.

 

And when they got back home, no one could understand what they had been through ... even if they had tried to understand, and by the sounds of it most civilians weren't interested anyway.  It was like they'd gone through hell, for nothing.   

 

The very last words of the film summed up the utter banality of it all.   When a soldier went back to work after ages away, one civilian said to him "oh I haven't seen you for a while.   Have you been working nights?"

 

All of the above sums up exactly what I was thinking whilst watching the programme. Their optimism and humour and the sense of being part of something big in the beginning. Then the reality once they were in Belgium. The horror, fear, poignancy and unbelievable conditions they existed in. The ignorance of those that didn't fight on the front lines was breath-taking. Understandable if you'd never experienced it first hand.

At the beginning, the young men were so enthusiastic and keen to go and beat "the Hun". The belief that because they were British, they were destined to win. I don't think many expected to see disembowelled men, comrades and mates shot dead next to them, trampling over the dead in order to advance 100 yards, the stench of death, making tea in jerry cans where they could taste petrol that was in them before. The new tanks rolling over and crushing the bodies of the fallen. Sleeping in wet trenches, watching men being swallowed up and drowning in the mud. Gangrene, hunger, no humanitarian facilities, no toilets, no toilet paper. Hardly any basics. Yet they still maintained a sense of hope and camaraderie. Remarkable young men. Remarkable film. Made me feel very humble.

[Voll Blau]

On 08/11/2020 at 20:26, worth_the_wait said:

For those of you interested in World War 1 ...

 

If you haven't seen it before, I'd strongly recommend watching the documentary/film "They shall not grow old" on BBC2 tonight at 10.45pm.

 

It takes old black and white film from 1914-18, colourizes and redigitizes it, and adds a soundtrack (either from people at the time, or recreating from lip-reading).

 

It brings WW1 to life like no other programme before.   It really is amazing, and well worth watching.

Cheers for the tip-off on this. Meant to watch it when it came out but glad it's been repeated.

 

I think the colourisation of film is probably my favourite modern technological innovation. While you grew up reading and knowing the stories of those years, it all just seems so much more real in motion and in colour.

Edited 12 November 2020 by Voll Blau