Chapter 12
Orphans, Violence and Identity: Transnational Travel in Cary Fukunaga’s Sin Nombre (2009), Denis Villeneuve’s Incendies (2010) and François Dupeyron’s Monsieur Ibrahim (2003)
Karen A. Ritzenhoff
All three films debunk myths of nationhood and the accompanying essentializing notions of national belonging. Although they each contrast diasporic communities in Western culture (Europe, Canada, United States) with distinctly religious and hybrid cultures (Middle East, Central America and Turkey), their main focus is not on portraying fundamental cultural differences. There are no exotic ‘Others’ – only the messy, hybrid, and confusing reality of identity in the 21st century.
The young heroes and heroines, whose ages range from 14 to 22, share similar senses of grief and anger, as well as liberation, as they reshape their own identities, creating new ones independent of their childhoods. It appears as though they are free of preconceived constructs dictated by parents, but in many ways, their life courses are still charted by their parents’ values, beliefs, and actions.
The characters in these exilic films negotiate crossings from South to North (across the Mexican-American frontier) and East to West (from the Middle East to Canada), as well as of intra-European and Asian borders. Although distinctly different in narrative and tone, each story showcases the ways in which young people explore and connect with their cultural roots, while at the same time recognizing that, in a global society, they can choose identities independent of their heritage. It is no longer bloodlines that binds individuals to each other, but rather newly imagined, chosen communities.
Films discussed in Chapter 12:
Incendies. Directed by Denis Villeneuve. Canada, France, 2010.
Monsieur Ibrahim. Directed by François Dupeyron. France, 2003.
My Beautiful Laundrette. Directed by Stephen Frears. UK, 1985.
The Other Son (Le Fils de l’Otre). Directed by Lorraine Levy. France, Israel, 2012.
Sin Nombre. Directed by Cary Fukunaga. USA, Mexico, 2009.
The young heroes and heroines, whose ages range from 14 to 22, share similar senses of grief and anger, as well as liberation, as they reshape their own identities, creating new ones independent of their childhoods. It appears as though they are free of preconceived constructs dictated by parents, but in many ways, their life courses are still charted by their parents’ values, beliefs, and actions.
The characters in these exilic films negotiate crossings from South to North (across the Mexican-American frontier) and East to West (from the Middle East to Canada), as well as of intra-European and Asian borders. Although distinctly different in narrative and tone, each story showcases the ways in which young people explore and connect with their cultural roots, while at the same time recognizing that, in a global society, they can choose identities independent of their heritage. It is no longer bloodlines that binds individuals to each other, but rather newly imagined, chosen communities.
Films discussed in Chapter 12:
Incendies. Directed by Denis Villeneuve. Canada, France, 2010.
Monsieur Ibrahim. Directed by François Dupeyron. France, 2003.
My Beautiful Laundrette. Directed by Stephen Frears. UK, 1985.
The Other Son (Le Fils de l’Otre). Directed by Lorraine Levy. France, Israel, 2012.
Sin Nombre. Directed by Cary Fukunaga. USA, Mexico, 2009.
Trailer of the film Sin Nombre (Source: YouTube)
About the author:
Karen A. Ritzenhoff (Central Connecticut State University) is a professor of Communication and a member of the Program for Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. She teaches courses on women and film, mass media, film history, global visual communication, American cinema, and television production. Her dissertation focused on borderlands: she analyzed the work of East German documentary filmmakers, many affiliated with the DEFA studios, and how they depicted the time period before and after the fall of the Berlin Wall. She is the co-editor of Screening the Dark Side of Love: From Euro-Horror to American Cinema (with Karen Randell, 2012). She has also co-edited Sex and Sexuality in a Feminist World (with Katherine A. Hermes, 2009), and authored the monograph Screen Nightmares: Video, Television, and Violence in Film (2010). Ritzenhoff is currently working on Stanley Kubrick as well as representations of the Apocalypse in Cinema.
Karen A. Ritzenhoff's webpage
Karen A. Ritzenhoff (Central Connecticut State University) is a professor of Communication and a member of the Program for Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. She teaches courses on women and film, mass media, film history, global visual communication, American cinema, and television production. Her dissertation focused on borderlands: she analyzed the work of East German documentary filmmakers, many affiliated with the DEFA studios, and how they depicted the time period before and after the fall of the Berlin Wall. She is the co-editor of Screening the Dark Side of Love: From Euro-Horror to American Cinema (with Karen Randell, 2012). She has also co-edited Sex and Sexuality in a Feminist World (with Katherine A. Hermes, 2009), and authored the monograph Screen Nightmares: Video, Television, and Violence in Film (2010). Ritzenhoff is currently working on Stanley Kubrick as well as representations of the Apocalypse in Cinema.
Karen A. Ritzenhoff's webpage