O for oblivion

O portays a single moment repeated over and over while continuously losing parts of its information. Made through photocopying frames and exposing these copies to relentless recopying, visual meaning degenerates into abstract noise, which ultimately deteriorates into nothingness. Electronic beeps of a standard hearing test accompany the opening images of Ears, Nose and Throat: a residential street at night. This simple acoustic device returns throughout the film in which Shadeena Brooks undergoes a medical examination and recounts a horrible event she eye witnessed. Every beep emphasizes the deep silence that lies at the heart of her story. An internal armed conflict has been raging in Colombia for more than 70 years. Over time, the outlines of this war have become indistinct, as violence and barbarity have worked themselves into every aspect of daily life. Yet fine traces of it mark the streets. La Impression de una guerra offers a vision of some of these marks that often signal a struggle against oblivion, indifference and impunity. Dutch development worker M. runs a small repair shop in Surinam. The only blue-eyed person in the village of Amakaköndë, he falls victim to people’s gossip, prejudice and superstition when a local child disappears. After many years of exiled living in the jungle M. has become the topic of folklore. The subject of children’s games and songs, M. knows how people refer to him: He who eats children.