28 years later: Where does this terrifying song that haunt the film comes from?

A disturbing 100 year old military song – taken from a poem by Rudyard Kipling – has its little effect in Danny Boyle’s film.

A nasal, rhythmic, almost martial voice, which chants obsessive words, until madness.

28 years later will remain marked by this chilling song entitled Bootsadapted from a poem of Rudyard Kiplingpublished in 1903, which evokes the Alienating monotony of military marchinspired by the hundreds of kilometers traveled by British troops during the Boers War in South Africa. The text, both mechanical and psychotic, portrays war as a form of absurd damnation. Translated, it gives:

“I have – Six – SEAMINES – In hell, and I certify
It is – not the fire – the devils, nor the darkness,
But boots – Boots – Boots – Bottes – which go up and go down again,
And there is no release in this war!
Try – Assaie – Assaie – Do not think of something else …
Oh – Mon—Dieu— Ne – I let it go crazy! “

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNZ5QYLG3QK

The version used in the film dates back to 1915, and is dramatically interpreted by Taylor Holmes.

First sober and military, his voice literally becomes hysterical as the poem progresses – an effect which, coupled with music and images of the trailer, generates an unbearable tension. This Ancient sound document has also been used by the American army in its psychological resistance programs (Sereneous).

In the film, Boots accompanies a scene where Spike and his father walk towards the continentinfested by infected, as if they were walking towards war.

Danny Boyle explain in Variety that this choice had imposed almost by accident, after Boots found himself in a trailer for the film:

“We wanted to use archives to show the culture that the island instilled in his children. It was a look to the past, towards triumphant England. And then arrived a teaser sent by Sony, containing this old reading of boots. Alex (Garland) and me, we remember it perfectly. We heard that and we said to ourselves: ‘Fucking shit!’ It was incredible power.“”

The credit returns to Megan Barbour, then music director of the Buddha Jones agency. Knowing the recording via a person spent by the Sere program, she offered it to the trailer editor. Result: a hypnotic spot, without dialogue, whose impact was such that Boyle immediately decided to Integrate it into the film.

“It’s like a reverse osmosis,” he said. “The sound entered the film and suddenly gave meaning to everything we try to express.”

What strikes even more boyle is that Kipling’s words And Holmes’ voicerecorded over a century ago, still resonate today With so much strength.

“How can something recorded 110 years ago still have such visceral power?” he wonders. “In a world dominated by Tiktok, it’s still impactful. It’s incredible.”