(Presses Universitaires de Bordeaux, 2011-12) Du Toit, Catherine
Without history there can be no political engagement. But history can only surpass its analytical, abstract and factual dimensions by the operation of memory. From his first short documentaries, such as Guernica, Les Statues meurent aussi (Statues also die) and Nuit et Brouillard (Night and Fog), the problem of the past is present in Alain Resnais’ cinema. Reconstructing the past does not only occur on the level of text and image but also through cinematographic techniques. This article examines the way in which lived memory in Alain Resnais’ politically engaged documentaries becomes conscience, participating in the imaginary of mnemonic reconstruction.