The History of Genocide in Cinema: Atrocities on Screen

Description

The organization 'Genocide Watch' estimates that 100 million civilians around the globe have lost their lives as a result of genocide in only the past sixty years. Over the same period, the visual arts in the form of documentary footage has aided international efforts to document genocide and prosecute those responsible, but this book argues that fictional representation occupies an equally important and problematic place in the process of shaping minds on the subject. Edited by two of the leading experts in the field, The History of Genocide in Cinema analyzes fictional and semi-fictional portrayals of genocide, focusing on, amongst others, the repression of indigenous populations in Australia, the genocide of Native Americans in the 19th century, the Herero genocide, Armenia, the Holodomor (Stalin's policy of starvation in Ukraine), the Nazi Holocaust, Nanking and Darfur. Comprehensive and unique in its focus on fiction films, as opposed to documentaries, The History of Genocide in Cinema is an essential resource for students and researchers in the fields of cultural history, holocaust studies and the history of film. Cover Half-title Endorsement Title page Copyright information Table of contents Contributing Authors Introduction 1 Settler Colonialism and Genocide in Australia Denying the Australian Genocide Contesting Genocide on Film Cinematic Specificity Indigenous Filmmakers Conclusion 2 No Good Samaritans: Explaining African Colonialism and Underdevelopment in Popular African Films They Saw, They Formed Empires The White Man’s Burden, Hollywood’s Propagandists Rodney’s Underdeveloped Africa The Films 3 “White Saviors” Unable to Save the “Other” in Hollywood’s Genocidal West Last of the Mohicans A Man Called Horse Little Big Man Dances with Wolves Hidalgo Conclusion 4 Genocide as European Empire Building: The Slaughter of the Herero of Namibia From Europe to Africa: Setting the Scene Racism Concentration Camps and Slave Labor History and Historicism A Need for African Historiography and Histories of Genocide Medicine and Experiments From Namibia to Germany: The Colonial Roots of the Nazi Holocaust Twenty-First Century: Prospects of Reconciliation 5 The Armenian Genocide in Film: Overcoming Denial and Loss 6 The Ukrainian Famine of 1932–1933 on Screen: Making Sense of Suffering “One-of-a-Kind:” Ukrainian Holodomor and Irish Gorta Mór Re-Imagining the Holodomor: Collective Trauma in Feature Film Conclusions 7 The Holocaust in Feature Films: Problematic Current Trends and Themes 8 Slaughter in China on Film: Nanjing and “Saving Asia” through Mutilation Black Sun: The Nanking Massacre (1995) City of Life and Death (2009) Flowers of War (2011) 9 Bangladesh: The Forgotten Genocide Background History: From East Pakistan to Bangladesh Reporting the Horrors of Genocide Heroic Efforts of Freedom Fighters Backdrop for Human Interaction Films About Women 10 Argentina’s Dirty War on Film: The Absent Presence of The Disappeared 11 Featuring Acts of Genocide in Chilean Film 12 Screening the Killing Fields: The Cambodian Genocide on Film 13 “This time we’re going to hit them without mercy”: Indonesian Operations and East Timor’s First Feature Film The Marriage of Beatriz (Sandra Da Costa) and Tomas (Raimundo Dos Santos) Beatriz and Tomas Survive the Conventional War and the Famine Cultural Motifs Australian Complicity and Beatriz’s War “This time we’re going to hit them without mercy” The CAVR Report as a Hidden Script The Puzzling Absence of FRETILIN Indonesia’s Receptivity to the Film 14 The Guatemalan Genocide on Film: An Ongoing Crisis and Omission When Mountains Tremble Granito Haunted Land: Le pays hanté, la Palabra Desenterrada and Discovering Dominga The Silence of Neto Conclusion 15 Cinematic Witnessing of the Genocide in Bosnia 1992–1995: Toward A Poetics of Responsibility 16 “Truth” in Films about the Rwandan Genocide Hotel Rwanda Sometimes in April Beyond the Gates Shake Hands with the Devil Comparisons 17 Stop a Genocide or Act in the National Interest?: A Comparative Examination of Hotel Rwanda and Attack on Darfur Overview of Hotel Rwanda Overview of Attack on Darfur Changes to International Law Conclusions 18 Adults in Children’s Bodies: Disabling Children in Bahman Ghobadi’s Films Grievability and the Al-Anfal Campaign Portrayal of Kurdish Children and Vulnerability in Ghobadi’s films Disabling and Disturbing Children in Turtles Can Fly Conclusion Epilogues Epilogue Epilogue: Genocide Art or “Kitsch”? Notes Index