Reel Reflections: Trauma and National Memory in 20th Century European Cinema 3620-RR-H-OG

Module 1
Introduction: What is national cinema?
1. Understanding the basics of film language.
2. Defining the concept of a nation.
3. What’s a national cinema?
4. Discussion of the concept of heritage cinema in the context of the post-Soviet world.
Please watch fragments of “With Fire and Sword,” Jerzy Hoffman
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhJXY3-n8X8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQI40TMnXt0

Please start watching the three films assigned for next week.
Reading:
Eric Hobsbawm, “Inventing Traditions.”
Thomas Elsaesser, “ImpersoNations: National Cinema, Historical Imaginaries,” (from European Cinema)

Module 2
From documenting history to fictionalizing trauma
Guest lecture on trauma by Prof. Cherise Northcutt on October 21st. Prof. Northcutt is a clinical
psychologist who specializes in trauma.
1. Documentary cinema as a vehicle for documenting history. “Night and Fog” as trauma cinema.
2. Why does Resnais move away from documentary in “Hiroshima mon Amour”?
Please watch:
“20 Days in Mariupol,”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OEjF35OA_s&rco=1
“Night and Fog,” Alain Resnais
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGN4_s0tHaM&rco=1 (without subtitles)
“Hiroshima mon Amour” Alain Resnais
Reading:
Reading: Joshua Hirsch, “Post-traumatic Cinema and the Holocaust Documentary,” from Trauma and
Cinema. Cross-Cultural Explorations. Ann Kaplan, ed. Pp. 93-121.
Sarah French, From History to Memory: Alain Resnais’ and Marguerite Duras’ “Hiroshima mon Amour.”
https://emajartjournal.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/french.pdf
Reni Celeste, “Love and Catastrophe: Filming the Sublime in Hiroshima Mon Amour”
https://www.euppublishing.com/doi/full/10.3366/film.2005.0038
Module 3
The Trauma Theory of Sigmund Freud and the Polish School of Cinematography
Please watch:
“Ashes and Diamonds,” Andrzej Wajda
“Katyn,” Andrzej Wajda
Reading:
S. Freud, “Beyond the Pleasure Principle,”
S. Freud, “Mourning and Melancholia,”
I. Kalinowska, “The Changing Meaning of Home and Exile”
Module 4
Roman Polanski does not/does look back: trauma theory and the cinematic flashback
Please watch:
“When Angels Fall,” Roman Polanski
“The Pianist,” Roman Polanski
Reading:
Judith Herman, “Trauma and Recovery.”
Reading: Dominick La Capra, Writing History, Writing Trauma, Johns Hopkins U Press, 2001Chpt. 1 -3, pp.
1-114. (Writing History, writing trauma; Trauma, Absence, Loss; Holocaust Testimonies: Attending to
the Victims Voice)

Module 5
Trauma and Identity in the Cinema of Agnieszka Holland
Please watch:
“Europa, Europa,” Agnieszka Holland
“In Darkness,” Agnieszka Holland
Reading:
Nathan Englander, “What we Talk about When we Talk About Anne Frank”
Ruth Johnson, “The Jewish Closet in Europa, Europa.” Camera Obscura, 52, 2003, 1-33
https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/in-darkness-2012
Module 6
Filmic renditions of Jan Karski as a witness.
Please watch: Claude Lanzmann “Shoah,” fragments
“Karski and the Lords of Humanity”
“Zone of Interest,” Jonathan Glazer (2023)
Readings:
Dori Laub, “Truth and Testimony,”
E. Staub, “The Psychology of Bystanders, Perpetrators, and Heroic Helpers.”
https://culture.pl/en/work/karski-and-the-lords-of-humanity-slawomir-grunberg

Module 7
From National to Transnational Cinema and Trauma
Please watch: “No, or the Vain Glory of Command,” Manuel de Oliverira ;
“Ida,” Paweł Pawlikowski, “Cold War,” Paweł Pawlikowski
Reading: Sheila Skaff, “Studying Ida”
Thomas Elsaesser, “European Cinema as World Cinema.”
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/ida-a-film-masterpiece
https://www.filmcomment.com/article/the-classical-modernist-manoel-de-oliveira/
https://www.evropafilmakt.com/work/movie/2022-sfp/no-or-the-vain-glory-of-command/?lang=en
https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/movies/2024/01/16/zone-of-interest-movie-review/
https://variety.com/2023/film/reviews/the-zone-of-interest-review-jonathan-glazer-1235618691/