I felt a connection to this movie when the British soldiers jumped out of their trenches for the first time. These soldiers simultaneously knew exactly what they had to do while also knowing nothing about the situation. The goal of killing Germans is all they needed to know to push through. As they endure chaos and trauma they are numb. Nothing else to feel or see because they’ve felt and seen it all. As the veterans said, in no-mans-land you start to think about your past. You do this because in moments of fear, reminiscing of simpler times is easier than processing the present. They might start to remember playing outside on the streets as a schoolboy, or how much they cherished a special toy. As a soldier, you start to wonder, “Am I going to become just like the others? Lying dead in the dirt, with such a rich past shot into nothing”. I understand how the soldiers felt as here they describe how weeks of training and years of living amount to this small but crucial point in their lives. I connect with the soldiers to the extent that your whole life is resting on one event. For them, this event is being killed, for me, this event determines the rest of my childhood. Until I am 18, I’ll be forced into change. Tell me, and the soldiers, how are we supposed to live stagnant with the fact that our lives will never be the same?
4 thoughts on “PR – They Shall Not grow Old – Laura”
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Well done, Laura! I really enjoyed reading this Personal Response because you portrayed your feelings in a way that gave me incite into your perspective while watching this film. Something that I was confused about while reading this paragraph was the sentence, “Your whole life is resting on one event. For them, this event is being killed, for me, this event determines the rest of my childhood.” It is unclear to me as to what this event is to you, and this causes me to misunderstand the meaning of your words. Aside from this, your writing was clear and I appreciated the deep thought you put into this post.
I like your use of words, it is very formal and sophisticated. I liked how you represented the soldiers point of view in the trenches.
I think your use of wording was very enhancing to your PR. I enjoyed your interpretation of of the points of view from the soldiers perspectives.
The way you write is absolutely stunning! I loved how you communicated so many emotions in such a clear way! I also really liked reading about how you personally understood what the soldiers were talking about. Awesome job!