Battle Without End (1955)

Overview

A Shell Film Unit documentary by Bert Haanstra examining humanity’s struggle against insect plagues, filmed across Egypt, Iraq, Kenya, Sudan, Tanganyika, and Uganda. The film combines scientific documentation with visceral imagery, including extreme close-ups of insects and an aerial sequence flying directly through a locust swarm. Framed within postwar scientific optimism, it presents pest control and pesticide technology as instruments of human survival, offering a stark, industrial counterpoint to Haanstra’s more lyrical documentaries.