Movie Description
War of Words: Soldier-Poets of the Somme
(2014)Overview
The 1916 Battle of the Somme remains the most famous battle of World War I, remembered for its bloodshed and its limited territorial gains. What is often overlooked, however, is the literary importance of the Somme: more writers and poets fought in it than in any other battle in history. Narrated by Michael Sheen, War of Words: Soldier-Poets of the Somme details the experiences of the poets and writers who served in the battle. The work of Siegfried Sassoon, Robert Graves, David Jones, Isaac Rosenberg and JRR Tolkien (who arrived at the Western Front with ambitions to be a poet) was informed and transformed by the battle. Taken together, their experiences allow us to see this dreadful historical event through multiple points of view. The film uses animation, documentary accounts, surviving artefacts, battalion war diaries and the landscape itself to reconnect this literature to the events that inspired it.
Featured Crew
- Director : Sebastian Barfield
- Producer : Sebastian Barfield,Peter Barton
- Editor : Ed Ison,Stuart Davies
- Cast : Michael Sheen,Peter Barton,Max Egremont,Christophe Fricker,John Garth,William Graves,Jean Moorcroft Wilson,Paul O'Prey,Jonathon Riley,Jon Stallworthy,Nigel Steel,Michael Symmons Roberts,Charlotte Zeepvat
Cast
Narrator (voice)
Himself - First World War Historian
Himself - Biographer, Siegfried Sassoon
Himself - Literary Historian
Himself - Author, Tolkien and the Great War
Himself - Son of Robert Graves
Herself - Biographer, Siegfried Sassoon
Himself - Editor, Selected Poems: Robert Graves
Himself - Royal Welch Fusiliers
Himself - Editor, The Oxford Book of War Poetry
Himself - Principal Historian, Imperial War Museums
Himself - Poet
Herself - Biographer, W.N. Hodgson
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Facts
Original TitleWar of Words: Soldier-Poets of the Somme
Status Released
Release Information
-
2014-11-15
Original LanguageEnglish
Runtime 01h 29m
Homepagehttp://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04pw01r
Production CompaniesParapet Productions,BBC Arts,BBC
Genres
- Documentary
- History
- TV Movie
- War
