War Letters at the Heart of “Behind the Lines” Documentary
Behind the Lines, produced by Sypher Studios, is an upcoming documentary chronicling historian and New York Times bestselling author, Andrew Carroll, and his journey around the world on his search for war letters.
After travelling to more than 40 countries, Carroll amassed an impressive collection (estimated at 100,000) as part of the Legacy Project, an all-volunteer initiative to preserve wartime correspondence. Tracing all the way back to the American Revolution up to modern conflicts in the Middle East, this collection of war letters is now archived at Chapman University’s Centre for American War Letters in California. The aim of the documentary was to capture the war experience from the perspectives of troops, civilians, and family members, honouring the sacrifices made by all who have been affected by wars throughout time. Situating the letters within the historical context and conflict from when they were written was vital. Together with director John Benitz and producer Bryce Cyrier, we established these letters in both a creative and informative context. My role as Research Assistant involved searching for archival material including photographs, film footage, news clippings, and any relevant information that could supplement the war letters in an artistic, yet educational capacity.
The first task was to read and understand the letters, assessing how to form the historical characters within the narrative. Following this, we created a list of characters with short biographies based on key words from their letters. As they describe their wartime experiences, feelings of frustration, anger, and fear feature prominently –
“It doesn’t make a bit of difference whether I feel the war is just or unjust, politically, or morally. The fact is that I’m here and will be for the next eleven months. That is my own very selfish, compulsive interest right now. Survival.” – Vietnam War
“People may think they know what war is like. Their knowledge is facts of the mind. Mine is the war-torn body, scared to soul’s depth. When I was in the States, war was far away, unreal. I had read, I had seen pictures, but now I know.” - WWII
We also took into consideration the inevitable constraints felt by the letter writers, from government censorship or deliberate omissions to protect their loved ones from the harsh realities they were facing. Once acquainted with the letter writers, we set out to source and acquire relevant archival material that could enhance the story of each character within the narrative framework of the documentary. This process involved selecting key identifiers, for example, dates, locations, or names, and then searching a specially designed archival database with links to the U.S. National Archives, British Pathé, Library of Congress, Buyout Footage, Public Domain Footage, among many others. This material was then curated and evaluated with these questions in mind -
- Are the locations and events occurring in said material historically accurate and representative of the letters?
- Does this provide historical and creative value to the letters?
- What else could I include that could further supplement the letters?
An organized database was created with information pertaining to copyright, provenance, material type, and more. With this source, the archival material was made readily accessible to the production team.
The importance of archival material, such as these war letters, should not be overlooked. The selection and interpretation of these letters require careful consideration, as we strive to honour the memories of these individuals sharing their experiences in their own words.
Images provided courtesy of Sypher Studios.
