Kill or Be Killed (1942)

Directed by

Len Lye

Genre

propaganda film

Country

United Kingdom

Runtime

18 min

Rating

6.5 of 10 from 2 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

This short documentary-style film trains soldiers and persuades civilians. It uses subjective camera angles to put the viewer directly into combat scenarios.

propagandisticinstructionalurgentatmospherictechnically observantstylizedtense

What happens

Kill or Be Killed is a 1942 British short documentary-style film directed by experimental New Zealand artist Len Lye for the Realist Film Unit during his time working for the British Government's Ministry of Information. The initial purpose of the film was to serve as a military training tool and a piece of post-war propaganda viewable by the general public, but since its release, both critics and filmmakers alike have hailed it as a "masterpiece of filmmaking," claiming that the realistic cinematography is pleasing both in aesthetics and technicality for its time. The film is most notable for its use of subjective viewing. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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