MEMORIES OF THE LEBANESE CIVIL WAR. AN ANALYSIS THROUGH THE WORKS OF JOANA HADJITHOMAS & KHALIL JOREIGE, AND THE FILM WALTZ WITH BASHIR (2008), BY ARI FOLMAN

Abstract

In this article we discuss a series of video installations and two films by Lebanese artists Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige, whose career together has been strongly marked by the images and memories of their country's recent history, especially those of the long Civil War (1975-1990), followed by an analysis of the film Waltz with Bashir by Israeli filmmaker Ari Folman, which is thematically related to one of the bloodiest episodes of that war and offers an interesting counterpoint. Before this approach, in order to better contextualise the works analysed, we begin with an introduction in which we try to recall in general terms some of the background, data and stages of that war, which also involved two other regional powers, and the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organisation).