Comme des lions de pierre à l'entrée de la nuit
Olivier Zuchuat, Schweiz, Frankreich, Griechenland, 2014o
Between 1947 and 1951, more than 80 000 Greek men, women and children were deported to the isle of Makronissos (Greece) in reeducation camps created to ‘fight the spread of Communism’. Among those exiles were a number of writers and poets, including Yannis Ritsos and Tassos Livaditis. Despite the deprivation and torture, they managed to write poems which describe the struggle for survival in this world of internment. These texts, some of them buried in the camps, were later found. «Like Lions of stone at the gateway of night» blends these poetic writings with the reeducation propaganda speeches constantly piped through the camps’ loudspeakers. Long tracking shots take us on a trance-like journey through the camp ruins, interrupted along the way by segments from photographic archives. A cinematic essay, which revives the memory of forgotten ruins and a battle lost.
Dans Comme des lions de pierre à l’entrée de la nuit, le suisse Olivier Zuchuat revient sur l’île de Makronissos où 80 000 citoyens grecs ont été internés entre 1948 et 1951, à la fin de la guerre civile. Parmi eux, il y avait tant de poètes que «quand les grands vents balayaient l’île on retrouvait des bribes de poèmes crochées aux barbelés». Méditative, la caméra glisse sur les rochers pelés, les murs écroulés, la mer au loin, tandis que la bande-son résonne des mots de résistance et d’espérance. Le temps a invalidé les cris propagandistes que déversaient les haut-parleurs, mais raffermi la parole poétique.
Antoine DuplanGalerieo
