This period is made clear in the opening line of commentary: ‘The third year of the second world war and loud and savage from their recent victories, the Axis powers are now grimly confident that world domination lies within their clutch’. The film then enumerates the triumphs of the Axis partners: ‘Germany has conquered Europe’; ‘Italy obeys, stabs and betrays’; ‘Japan has torn away the islands of the Far East’. The overt aim of the film is to encourage the mutual support of Britain and the Empire countries in the ‘battle for freedom’ that is the Second World War. In doing so it emphasises the gravity of the situation: Empire countries are described as being ‘ripe for the picking’; there is talk of ‘the living death of slavery under fascism’. The film also stresses the level of the support that is being provided by these countries: the portrayal of the aid that is being given is morale boosting for audiences both at home and abroad.

The filmmakers use the Axis advance to tell an additional story: it provides them with the opportunity to portray the British Empire in the most positive light. The film begins by outlining a series of opposites. Images of destruction, military aggression, and regimented obedience are used to demonstrate what life would be like under an Axis Empire, and the commentary talks of the rule of ‘bayonet and gas bomb’. In contrast, to illustrate life in the British Empire countries, we see footage of schools, hospitals and laboratories in which the local people are given positions of authority. Here the commentary talks of ‘weapons of science to fight against disease and suffering’. It is argued that Axis rule will lead towards ‘drugged’ and ‘chained’ slavery, while British rule will lead towards ‘full independence and self-government’.

The film is fulfilling several propaganda purposes here. As it informs the people of the colonies that ‘they shall achieve that freedom and independence already known by the great peoples of the Dominions’ a second meaning to the film’s title is introduced: the people are being told that, if they join the battle for freedom against the Axis countries, they will also ensure the battle for freedom in their own lands. This message of independence is also presumably directed towards American allies, amongst whom the British government wished to convey an image of ‘constructive imperialism’ (Jeffery, 2001, 325). The film is also looking towards a British Commonwealth, rather than a British Empire, and in outlining the resources of these countries as well as the willing support of their peoples, it is demonstrating to all partners the present and future benefits of this arrangement.

The second half of the film covers the wartime contributions of various Empire and Dominion countries. The most interesting of these portrayals is of India. Unlike several other British or Indian governmental films of this period, The Battle for Freedom is open about the Indian political situation: the portrait begins by acknowledging the ‘refusal of the Cripps proposals’. It nevertheless quickly turns to a positive outlining of Indian support. On screen there are images of Indian military volunteers; meanwhile the commentary reinforces the film’s message of freedom through battle: the film’s various audiences are informed that ‘a successful Japanese invasion would mean slavery, would mean that the certainty of the British promise of India’s independence would vanish like smoke’.

Richard Osborne (June 2010)