Film of the Battle of the Somme

History Essay
Who:
The film “Battle of the Somme” was produced by Geoffrey Mulins and J.b Mc Dowel who were both working for the government. In some aspects they are likely to be trustworthy for example they were both there at the time and showed unedited footage however they do bend the truth as they do say that Britain are doing a lot better than they are whereas they were doing well but the film spins it in a completely different way but as the film progresses the message becomes clearer that the British are not doing amazingly but they are just brave and will do anything they can to win the war. Meaning that they do “bend” the truth however the other way to look at it is that they would have made less “genuine” error as they were actually there in the time there may have been some ulterior motives of both the government and the photographers themselves.

Why:
The main reason that the source was produced in my view was that they wanted to calm the public down in a sense as they probably would have read in newspapers and heard about the losses made even though the newspapers were censored.   This film in my view is trying to influence the public and spin the war in a certain way.
When:
This source was produced in 1916 which allows for the source to be as accurate as possible as it was experienced firsthand and reported however a drawback is that an ulterior motive could cause the source to be biased and show things in a certain light, and although not lying it makes us question the reliability of the source.