‘the War Game’ and ‘Fahrenheit 9/11’

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Distinguishing Documentary Film Directors: Contrasting and Comparing Throughout the last century, filmmaking has expanded as an art form. New ideas about the way something should be captured, pieced together and tweaked were forming and filmmakers were constantly testing and pushing the boundaries of what was considered the norm. Peter Watkins was among many filmmakers of this era who brought a new style and creativity to the filmmaking world, debuting a whole new genre of film in ‘The War Game’. ‘The War Game’ is a highly commended docudrama based on what could have been the worst case scenario during WWII. Watkins’ work went on to inspire and influence many other films, and is reflected in Michael Moores’ documentary ‘Fahrenheit 9/11’, a social docudrama looking at the actions taken by George Bush during his presidency. Although the two films are of very different natures and certainly have their differences, there are attributes and techniques which have been adopted into both films. These attributes include genre, themes, editing techniques, use of narration, archival footage or sound. This essay will compare and contrast these two documentaries in order to differentiate between filmmakers and show what influence directors have on a film. ‘Fahrenheit 9/11’ and ‘The War Game’ share very similar themes. Politics, truthfulness, media, war and propaganda are what create the basis for both of these films and this is the most prominent similarity between them. The reason the similarities in themes are so obvious, is because Moore and Watkins both shared the same intent when creating each film. Watkins’ initially released ‘The War Game’ in 1965 to emphasize the British governments’ oblivious and optimistic approach towards the event of nuclear warfare. This can be compared to ‘Fahrenheit 9/11’, where the film was created in order to present the audience with biased
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