The Realism of the Film The Battle of The Somme

The Realism of the Film The Battle of The Somme

The film 'The Battle of The Somme' was released in Londonon the 10th

of August 1916, it was a famous documentary that was filmed by

Geoffrey Malins and J.B. McDowell. They were one of the first groups

of cameramen to film the British soldiers on the Battlefields of the

Western Front. They helped the government to produce a video, to show

people that War wasn't as bad as it seemed. It was however a silent

film and so captions had to be use to explain what the next section of

the film was going to show. The film gave us an insight into what the

life of a soldier would be like. Many historians have argued over

whether this video is an accurate and reliable source of information

and hopefully this will be resolved.

The film however may not be reliable and trustworthy because the shots

may have been fixed and set-up, they were also the opinions of only

one person, so if they felt that everything was great, this would then

show in what they took pictures of. The government could also have

only selected the views that they wanted for the film so they may have

left out the gory bits and pictures showing the British Forces

suffering.

The way that the film portrays Equipment and Supplies can be supported

by many of the sources, the sources suggest that the British had

plenty of food and drink, they also show the British with high stacks

of boxes full of food and drink. Some of the sources also imply that

they had plenty of artillery and shells, so that they didn't run out

during mid-battle, they also had a lot of guns and men ready to shoot

the Germans. However, other sources challenge the...

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...all the information to the Newspaper companies. The

Newspapers also would write anything to make the paper sell to the

public. Many of the Photographs look like they may have been staged or

set up, so these two sources are rather unreliable. Life in the

trenches appears to be pretty gruesome because there are dead bodies

lying around and massive War going on outside, there is the fear that

you will never see your family and friends again.

Historians have been arguing for years over whether or not the film

'The Battle of the Somme' is a realistic view of what actually

happened in World War I. There has been no outright decision to

whether it is a realistic view or not, and historians will continue to

debate over whether or not it is a reliable source to show what life

was like for the British soldiers in the trenches.