Missing children: Merzak Allouache and Rachid Bouchareb or, 2005 ten years later

Abstract

ABSTRACTIn José Emilio Burucúa and Nicolás Kwiatkowski's ‘The Absent Double: Representations of the Disappeared,’ the authors, writing about the ‘systematic and clandestine murders’ of thousands of Argentine citizens between 1976 and 1983, introduce the notion of ‘representational formulas,’ devices that bind together ‘fact, truth and narration’ in the various attempts of artists to confront a past of and present haunted by political violence. In particular, the authors claim that representational formulas are ways of coming to terms with ‘historical massacres,’ acts of political violence for which ‘a group rather than an individual is responsible, and exceptionally cruel methods are used. Moreover, the victims, dead or alive, are treated with utter contempt,’ while too often, ‘the perpetrators face no great physical risks.’ This essay develops the concept of representational formula in the work of Lisandro Alonso, proposes the voyage form or search for a missing child as one such formula, and examines its use by the Algerian filmmakers Merzak Allouache and Rachid Bouchareb. It concludes by comparing their handling of the formula with that of two other filmmakers, Pawel Pawlikowski and Nacer Khemir, also confronting acts of historical, political violence in other parts of the world. What is at stake in every case is giving the spectator time to think and resources, often theological in origin, to think differently about time. In short, encounters with ontological, political and aesthetic openness.