L'Occhio Selvaggio (1967)

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This drama examines the ethics of filmmaking as it chronicles the detached way in which a documentary maker exploits the misery of his subjects. It all begins with the seduction of another man's wife. He takes the woman to Bombay where he is filming opium addicts undergoing a rather extreme cure involving physical beatings. He then heads for Bali to chronicle the cruelty suffered deaf-mute prostitutes. Next, he goes to a Buddhist temple and tries to persuade a monk to light himself on fire. Back in India he cons a starving, deposed maharajah into eating bugs in exchange for canned food. The mistress is disgusted by the way her lover callously exploits and degrades these victims. She berates him, but still heads for war-torn Vietnam to catch some atrocities. The documentarist is excited when he learns the Viet Cong are planning to bomb a bar, and he hides his camera inside. The bomb goes off and most of the inhabitants are blown up. Later the delighted director retrieves the film. When he finds his lover dead inside the ruins, he orders his assistant to film his crying face. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi