AllMovie

In 1914, the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria brought a number of political and military rivalries to the boiling point, and soon all of Europe was at war, with nearly every major nation of the world taking sides in the conflict. It would be four years before the struggle finally came to an end, after fifteen million people lost their lives in what was called "the War to end all Wars." Filmmaker Jean-François Delassus offers a powerful look at the Great War, the motivations behind it and its consequences in this documentary. 14-18: The Noise and the Fury follows the war from the perspective of an unseen soldier who, motivated by nationalism and a misguided craving for heroism, volunteers for the army only to witness the ugliness and waste of battle first hand for the next four years. Delassus uses the soldier's words as narration as contemporary news photos, newspaper clippings, restored and colorized newsreel materials and clips from films about the war provide a visual accompaniment, contemplating the larger story of the conflict as well as the crises of one typical fighting man. 14-18: The Noise and the Fury (aka 14-18, Le Bruit et la Fureur) was originally produced for French television; it was later screened at a number of international film festivals, including the 2010 San Francisco International Film Festival.