The power of POV: five films that put you in the shoes of otherwise unrelatable characters

By Daniel O'Brien, Lecturer, Department of Literature Film and Theatre Studies, University of Essex

The point-of-view (POV) shot is a filming angle that is usually used to put the viewer into the rigid perspective of how a character sees the world, either for a few scenes, or in some cases, the whole film.

Used well, it can be extremely effective, presenting an entirely new way of looking at a character or their motivations. This can be very useful for filmmakers depicting difficult characters, like murderers, machines or monsters.

Here are five films that have used POV to depict difficult or inorganic characters in convincing ways.

1. The Terminator (1984)

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