Shameless Propaganda
Shameless Propaganda
| 01 July 2013 (USA)
Shameless Propaganda Trailers

This feature documentary examines its own genre, which has often been called Canada's national art form. Released in the year of the NFB's 75th birthday, Shameless Propaganda is filmmaker Robert Lower's take on the boldest and most compelling propaganda effort in our history (1939-1945), in which founding NFB Commissioner John Grierson saw the documentary as a "hammer to shape society". All 500 of the films produced by the NFB until 1945 are distilled here for the essence of their message to Canadians. Using only these films and still photos from that era, Lower recreates the picture of Canada they gave us and looks in it for the Canada we know today. What he finds is by turns enlightening, entertaining, and unexpectedly disturbing.

Reviews
Marketic

It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

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InformationRap

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

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Brenda

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

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Zandra

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

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pscamp01

This movie is a documentary from the National Film Board of Canada about the creation of the National Film Board of Canada. While they are known now for the hundreds of movies they have made in different genres, they were formed to create and disseminate propaganda movies during World War II. The narrator/director plainly states that many of these early films were pedestrian and dull, he makes a good case for the lasting artistic legacy of some of them--particularly the ones that showcased the different regions and people in the country. An interesting movie that fans of historical documentaries will probably enjoy.

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