★★★★
‘I think the magnitude was just beyond their comprehension’ says one voice at the close of this fascinating, intensely personal, curatorial documentary by Peter Jackson. The speaker is a First World War veteran describing his return to civilian life; in one fell blow, he strikes on the problem with current perceptions of the war experience. Fundamentally, there has always been something distancing about the jolty silent film footage that provides the modern viewer’s only way ‘into’ the trenches. Embracing new technological advances, however, Jackson has changed the game and produced the most visually visceral and true-to-life Great War documentary ever made.
The Film Blog 