“Never forget” was coined on thousands of monuments around the world to remind and reflect on the sacrifices of World War I. SOLDIER’S STORIES a thirty-minute documentary film by Academy Award-winning producer Nicholas Reed, honors the 100th anniversary of World War I, remembering what it is, and was to be a soldier. The film incorporates stereographic World War 1 photographs from the trenches of France, The Battle of the Somme between the years of 1914-1918, and was shot in IMAX format for large venue presentation. The late Oscar®-winning actor and U.S. Army veteran Mickey Rooney provides heartfelt narration, along with modern day Veterans from battles in Iraq and Afghanistan who share their emotionally rooted recollections of their own war experiences: Real soldiers telling real stories about what it means to be a soldier, what it means to fight for your country and what it means to come home. The film merges technology, history and storytelling for an immersive cinematic experience.
World War I officially ended in 1918 on November 11 at 11 a.m., in hope that the numbers 11-11-11 would stand forever as a reminder of the devastating losses endured throughout the world. November 11, now variously known as Armistice Day, Veteran’s Day and Remembrance Day, is marked each year as a reminder of the sacrifices made by veterans everywhere.
“My goal was to give all of us insight and respect for what a soldier endures in war and show fellow soldiers that they are not alone in their feelings about war.”
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Reed was taken by the diaries of World War I soldiers and realized that nothing had changed for the Soldier in 100 years. He said, “My goal was to give all of us insight and respect for what a soldier endures in war and show fellow soldiers that they are not alone in their feelings about war.”
Director Jonathan Kitzen encapsulates the inhumanity of war in the story of a single battle: the Somme Offensive. One of the largest campaigns of the First World War, as well as one of the deadliest military operations in history, the Battle of the Somme was an early and graphic example of the gruesome consequences of trench warfare. More people died in one hour at the Battle of the Somme than were killed during the entire D-Day Offensive.
Both intimate and epic in scale, SOLDIER’S STORIES creates an emotional portrait of the modern battlefield through first-hand accounts of soldiers who fought to survive in enemy territory. The last known surviving veteran of World War I died in 2012, but Kitzen has ingeniously used testimony by veterans of the conflicts in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan—an eerie and fascinating counterpoint that could have been written by the survivors of the early 20th century combat. These emotional “grunt-eye view” accounts provide a shockingly fresh portrait of the terror, the adrenaline, the thrill and even the smell of war.
Visit the http://soldiersstoriesmovie.com/ web site for more information about screenings and related materials.
