https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrabKK9Bhds

Parents and Guardians:

On Monday, 18 March, we will be watching the 2022 documentary They Shall Not Grow Old. The film features remastered and colorized video and audio to create a truly unique and intimate portrayal of the First World War.

The film is rated R for disturbing war images by the MPAA. Common Sense Media rates the film 16+ with the following disclaimer.

Parents need to know that They Shall Not Grow Old is a documentary by Oscar-winning director Peter Jackson that takes century-old footage of World War I and gives it an upgrade; it's restored, corrected, colored, and given sound effects, spoken voices, and narration. The effect is astonishing, groundbreaking, essential viewing, although the mature material makes it best for older teens and adults. The wartime violence is extreme: Expect to see dead bodies; mangled corpses; bloody, gory wounds; and other shocking, horrifying images. There are also graphic descriptions of dire conditions, and you'll see guns/shooting, shells, and explosions. Narration talks of soldiers visiting brothels; some (fairly tame) cartoon drawings depict this. Men's naked bottoms are shown in a nonsexual context. Soldiers are shown smoking and drinking beer, both of which are also discussed at some length. Language includes "piss," "hell," "damn," and "bastards."

To best facilitate educational discussion of the film, we have elected to divide it into two parts. The opening half hour revolves around the opening of the war in Britain and basic training leading up to deployment to the front lines in France.

All students will be required to watch this section of the film.

The second half of the film features first hand accounts and footage of the war in the trenches and the front lines. This section of the film contains several scenes containing violence, nudity, human and animal corpses, and gruesome bodily harm.

We believe these scenes can be disturbing but were part of the reality of the war. We do not wish to censor the horrifying human tragedy of this conflict. However, we hope to accommodate sensitive viewers. If you wish to opt your student out of watching this section of the film with the class, we will provide them with an alternative assignment.

We encourage you to watch the film yourself if you have any hesitations. If you have any questions or wish to opt your student out of watching the documentary, please reach out to me via email.

We appreciate your time and consideration.