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The Promise of Return: Understanding Historical Trauma Through Personal Journey Documentaries Myriam Tremblay-Sher a Thesis In

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The Promise of Return: Understanding Historical Trauma Through Personal Journey Documentaries Myriam Tremblay-Sher a Thesis In The Promise of Return: Understanding Historical Trauma through Personal Journey Documentaries Myriam Tremblay-Sher A Thesis in The Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts (Film Studies) at Concordia University Montreal, Quebec, Canada September 2012 © Myriam Tremblay-Sher, 2012 CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY School of Graduate Studies This is to certify that the thesis prepared By: Myriam Tremblay-Sher_________________________________________ Entitled: The Promise of Return: Understanding Historical Trauma through Personal Journey Documentaries and submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (Film Studies) complies with the regulations of the University and meets the accepted standards with respect to originality and quality. Signed by the final examining committee: Marielle Nitoslawska________________________ Chair Catherine Russell___________________________ Examiner Frank Chalk_______________________________ Examiner Thomas Waugh____________________________ Supervisor Approved by Luca Caminati______________________________ Chair of department or Graduate Program Director Catherine Wild______________________________ Dean of Faculty Date September 15, 2012__________________________ Abstract The Promise of Return: Understanding Historical Trauma through Personal Journey Documentaries By Myriam Tremblay-Sher This research explores the capabilities of documentary cinema to innovatively articulate traumatic history and memory and compel the viewer in the construction of meaningful remembrance. Since the mid-1980s, an increasingly prominent sub-genre of historical documentary films has emerged in which survivors of the Holocaust or their descendants travel to regions of Eastern Europe to uncover and make sense of their family’s traumatic past. These types of films are what Annette Insdorf has identified as “documentaries of return.” They actively engage with three major questions: first, the evolving discourses of memory and their effect on the visual interpretation of traumatic history; second, the documentary articulation of embodied and spatial memory; and third, the conceptualization of the historical image that seeks more than authentic reflexivity. The challenge, then, is to investigate how documentaries of return, in the context of personal memory quests, enhance the mediation of traumatic history beyond the question of mimetic transparency. Five notable films explore this: Dark Lullabies (Irene Angelico, 1985), A Journey Back (Brian Mckenna, 1987), Birthplace (Pawel Lozinski, 1992), Shtetl (Marian Marzynski, 1996), and Hiding and Seeking: Faith and Tolerance after the Holocaust (Menachem Daum & Oren Rudavsky, 2004). Through their experiential exploration of memorial affect and memorial space, and through their formulation of the image beyond mere historical representation, these films further our understanding of the complexities and nuances of traumatic memory and history amidst the growing abundance of representations of trauma in contemporary media. iii Acknowledgments There are many people I would like to thank for making the completion of this thesis possible. First and foremost, I offer my sincerest gratitude for my supervisor, Dr. Thomas Waugh, for his encouragement, patience, and guidance. As well, I would like to thank my readers, Dr. Catherine Russell and Dr. Frank Chalk. I thank the entire faculty at the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema for so generously sharing their passion for the world of cinema and inspiring me to keep learning and researching. I also want to express my gratitude for the office staff at Mel Hoppenheim: Olivia Ward, Cheryl Williams, and Amely Jurgenliemk. Without their help and smiles, this thesis and this Master’s degree could not have been completed. This process would not have been so enjoyable and manageable without the help of my wonderful workshop buddies: Kaia Scott, Kelsey Haas, Tim Smith, Lindsey Campbell, and Samuel (SamCop) Burd. As well, my dear friend and conference partner Julie Ravary-Pilon who always encourages me and inspires me. Of course, I must thank my friends and family for their undying love and support. Finally, with all my heart, I thank my grandmother, Olga Sher, who inspires me to stay curious. Dziękuję za wszystko. iv Table of Contents List of Figures…………………………………………………………………………….v Introduction………………………………………………………………………………1 Chapter 1: The Evolving Discourses of Memory and its Documentary Visualization….31 Chapter 2: The Documentary Depiction of Spatial and Embodied Memory…………....73 Chapter 3: The Image of History, Memory, and Trauma……………………………....101 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………...125 Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………....138 Filmography…………………………………………………………………………….141 Appendix…………………………………………………………………………….....142 List of Figures Figure 1: still from Dark Lullabies (Irene Angelico, 1985)….…………………………..77 Figure 2: still from Hiding and Seeking (Menachem Daum and Oren Rudavsky, 1996)..79 Figure 3: still from Birthplace (Pawel Lozinski, 1992)………...……………………......87 Figure 4: still from Shtetl (Marian Marzynski, 1996)…………………………...……….91 Figure 5: still from Shtetl (Marian Marzynski, 1996)………………………………...….96 Figure 6: still from A Journey Back (Brian Mckenna, 1987)…………………..………107 Figure 7: still from Birthplace (Pawel Lozinski, 1992)…………………………...……112 Figure 8: still from Birthplace (Pawel Lozinski, 1992)………………………………..116 Figure 9: still from A Journey Back (Brian Mckenna, 1987)…………………………..121 v Introduction The incredible breadth of scholarship and films dedicated to issues of difficult history and memory underscores the contemporary need to make sense of the traumatic past. The Nazi Holocaust has been a major source of inspiration for these works and has launched decades of debates and questionings in various fields over how to understand, remember, articulate, and mediate seemingly unimaginable traumatic events. In cinema, it has inspired a most diverse array of approaches to genuinely and creatively communicating the experience of an ostensibly indescribable history. Though countless horrors other than the Nazi Holocaust have scarred history and warrant analysis and remembrance on and off the screen, a closer look at documentaries that deal with the traumatic remembrance of the Nazi Holocaust will provide crucial entry points for evaluating and inflecting the diverse theories on trauma, memory, and historical representation that were in large part spawned by that particular historical event. Since the mid-1980s, an increasingly prominent subgenre of historical documentary films has emerged in which survivors of the Holocaust or their descendants travel to regions of Eastern Europe to uncover and make sense of their family’s traumatic past. These types of documentaries are what Annette Insdorf has termed “documentaries of return,” a growing sub-genre of what she identifies as the “personal documentary,” characterized by subjective accounts of return.1 This research will take a closer look at this specific type of documentary and will expand on Insdorf’s concept by addressing how these films actively engage with three major questions: first, the evolving discourses of memory and their effect on the visual interpretation of traumatic history; second, the 1 Annette Insdorf. Indelible Shadows: Film and the Holocaust, 3rd ed. (New York: Cambridge 1 documentary appropriation and construction of space as it defines embodied memory; and third, the conceptualization of the image that seeks to go deeper than the mere mediation of historical events. Film Corpus The specific films that will be analyzed have come out in the last twenty five years or so (1985 – present) and come primarily from Canada and the United States; the vast time and space travelled in these films enrich the questioning over the impact of distance on traumatic memory. They have been chosen because they prioritize a personal approach to understanding traumatic history through varied formal and methodological documentary/cinematic strategies: Dark Lullabies (Irene Angelico, Canada, 1985) involves a return to Germany by the daughter of Holocaust survivors and offers an interesting and extensive use of the interview. Speaking candidly with people with diverse backgrounds, including descendants of perpetrators, Irene Angelico’s film provides a broader understanding of how the trying past can be reconciled. It does so through a very personal portrayal of her own journey of understanding. Her voice-over is constant and most shots take the time to carefully frame her reaction to her encounters. Complementing this personal approach, the film also borrows from the expository mode of representation through its use of archival imagery and her historical commentary. A Journey Back (Brian Mckenna, Canada, 1987) follows Jack Garfein as he returns to his native Slovenia as well as Auschwitz. In this film, the detailed and long 2 time spent in the actual space of a concentration camp involves the viewer in a compelling spatial encounter with traumatic memory. Through Garfein’s animated on- site testimony, the film also compellingly constructs the image of traumatic memory. Though this documentary follows Garfein’s personal rediscovery of the dark past, it also adopts an investigative tone in trying to identify a perpetrator from Garfein’s hometown during that traumatic time. Furthermore, the narration of the film is not Garfein’s own. The film is therefore split between a contemplative aesthetic
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