They Shall Not Grow Old

Last night, IPLawGuy and I hobbled over to the Sun Valley Opera House to watch "They Shall Not Grow Old," with some commentary by filmmaker Peter Jackson. The movie is simple but profound: a restoration of World War One film with oral history commentary by veterans of the events depicted. In all, it is an anti-war movie, focused on a war that grew out of a minor conflict and caused unmitigated tragedies and led to revolutions in both Russia and Germany.

When I was a kid, there was a World War One veteran living across the street from us. Mr. Kengel was shell-shocked; the sound of our tennis balls crashing against the garage door resulted in understandable protests from him.

But like most Americans, I did not think much about World War One. We are much more knowledgable, it seems, about the Second World War, which somehow seems more modern and immediate.

And yet there is a lot to learn in the modern day from the epic rolling tragedy that some called The War to End All Wars. It was fueled by interlocking alliances and empire; nations with no real beef with one another suddenly were in a shockingly bloody war. Technological advances turned it into a bloodbath that few foresaw when it began. It was the last war of medieval Europe and the first of the modern age.

The stench of death was all over it.