MC4 - WWIs First Frontline Cameraman (2016)

July 1, 1916 marked the launch of the deadliest battle of the First World War: the Battle of the Somme. It will cause more than 400,000 deaths and 600,000 injuries. A million victims! More than Verdun or any other battle.
But this battle, as terrible as it was, marked the real turning point of the First World War, with, among other things, the appearance of the first tanks. And it's also the title of a film. "THE" first documentary in History. 70 minutes that revolutionize cinema… because for the first time, we film the war from the inside, at the heart of the fighting, and we see the wounded, the dead… For years controversy has raged around the film due to its disconcerting violence and overt propagandist agenda. New research has proven that most of the scenes are indeed a real minute-by-minute record of the disastrous battle.
The Battle of the Somme marked a major turning point in the First World War, as tanks made their first appearance on the battlefield. The Battle also gave its name to a film, the first ever historical documentary. Those 70 minutes revolutionized the cinema with the first inside story of war, showing the thick of battle, the wounded and the dead. The film was made by Englishman Geoffrey Malins, the first war cameraman. It was seen by over 20 million people in Britain before being shown in France, the USA, Russia, Canada and eventually the rest of the world.
Geoffrey Herbert Malins (1886-1940) is the first war 'cinematographer' in history. We are in 1916 at a time when cinema is still silent. Malins is one of the few who knows how to film in the UK. This gift for the image inevitably brings him to the frontlines of the Great War, the bloodiest battles of the 20th century, in which the worst and most famous is the Battle of the Somme. One of the worst carnages of the 20th century.