Yesterday we remembered that it is 100 years since the end of World War 1. Ceremonies took place worldwide. I tuned into the Cenotaph at 10 am as I do each year to watch the laying of the wreaths and the march past. I have done this since we had our first tiny black and white television as a teenager. I am afraid at that time I found it all a bit boring, the ignorance of youth, but as I grew older I realised what it was all about and have always made sure I could see it. This year the BBC gave a Red Button alternative - no commentary. As I have been driven to distraction by BBC interviewers and commentators talking over nearly everything in the past few years, it was with great relief that I turned on the red button.
And oh, it was wonderful. No talking heads, no nothing just the music and the peace and quiet to watch the solemn moments. It was, as always, moving and deeply sad. During the two minutes silence when the cameras zoom in on the faces of those watching there is never anybody looking anything but thoughtful and contemplative.
It had been pouring with rain in the morning and a nasty day but by the time the ceremony started the sun was shining as it always seems to do.
The highlight of the day for me was the showing of a film They Shall Not Grow Old on the BBC in the evening. I had read about it and was looking forward to sitting down and watching. Peter Jackson, director of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, had been asked by the War Museum if he could make a film for 2018 utilising hundreds of hours of footage that they had in their archives. He decided to see if it could be slowed down from, as he put it, the "Charlie Chaplin" type of film we normally see.
The results are simply stunning. The film starts off with a small black and white screen in the centre of our larger screen and then without warning it expands, turns into colour and fills the whole screen. I literally gasped in wonder and then found myself in tears. The film has been slowed down so we can see the faces of those involved, smiling at the camera, thumbs up and laughing and joking. Lip readers have analysed what was said and voices have been added. Sounds too. There was one scene where the earth was being thrown into the air by the bombs and with the additional sound it was frightening to watch as this was not a movie, this was real.
The most moving part of it for me was the camaraderie shown towards the German prisoners. Voices over, and these were the voices of veterans recorded in the 1960s and 1970s spoke about how they realised they were just young lads like themselves, were scared to death and did not want to die. There was footage of them mucking about together and laughing and joking and I sat there with tears trickling down my face as these young boys just had fun in the midst of all the carnage.
And the saddest thing of all - one soldier had to shoot a comrade who was dying in agony and put him out of his misery. It seems as he died he was crying out for his mum.
Words fail. I am choking up writing this.
If you can get to see this, then please do so. It is a masterpiece.
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