Raya Morag is an Associate Professor of Cinema Studies at the Department of Communication and Journalism, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel. MMOORRAAGG__PPrreelliimmss..iinndddd ii 88//88//22001133 66::4455::1100 PPMM MMOORRAAGG__PPrreelliimmss..iinndddd iiii 88//88//22001133 66::4455::1100 PPMM WALTZING WITH BASHIR Perpetrator Trauma and Cinema R M AYA ORAG MMOORRAAGG__PPrreelliimmss..iinndddd iiiiii 88//88//22001133 66::4455::1100 PPMM Published in 2013 by I.B.Tauris & Co Ltd 6 Salem Road, London W2 4BU 175 Fifth Avenue, New York NY 10010 www.ibtauris.com Distributed in the United States and Canada Exclusively by Palgrave Macmillan 175 Fifth Avenue, New York NY 10010 Copyright © 2013 Raya Morag The right of Raya Morag to be identifi ed as the author of this work has been asserted by the author in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patent Act 1988. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or any part thereof, may not be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. International Library of the Moving Image 11 ISBN 978 1 78076 264 7 A full CIP record for this book is available from the British Library A full CIP record for this book is available from the Library of Congress Library of Congress catalog card: available Typeset by Newgen Publishers, Chennai Printed and bound by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CR0 4YY MMOORRAAGG__PPrreelliimmss..iinndddd iivv 88//88//22001133 66::4455::1100 PPMM For my sister MMOORRAAGG__PPrreelliimmss..iinndddd vv 88//88//22001133 66::4455::1100 PPMM MMOORRAAGG__PPrreelliimmss..iinndddd vvii 88//88//22001133 66::4455::1100 PPMM CONTENTS Acknowledgments viii List of Illustrations xi Preface xiii Introduction: From Victim to Perpetrator Trauma 1 Part I: Victim Trauma 1. The Body as the Battlefield 35 2. Chronic Victim Trauma and Terror 72 3. Queerness, Ethnicity, and Terror 100 Part II: Perpetrator Trauma 4. The New Wave of Documentary Cinema: The Male Perpetrator 129 5. The New Wave of Documentary Cinema: The Female Perpetrator 154 6. The New Wave of Documentary Literature 180 Conclusion: The Perpetrator Complex 211 Notes 219 Works Cited 247 Further Reading 261 Filmography 266 Index 269 MMOORRAAGG__PPrreelliimmss..iinndddd vviiii 88//88//22001133 66::4455::1100 PPMM ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This book completes a journey into the heart of cinema trauma. The journey began with my prior research that delved into two post- traumatic cinematic cultures – German and American – which to a great extent defined my twentieth-century Jewish-Israeli identity. The first decade of the twenty-first century and its consequent transfor- mation of the rules of war inevitably led me to deal with my own post- traumatic culture. Being an Israeli on the Left in the era of ongoing Israeli occupation of the Territories, and personally facing Palestinian suicide attacks, makes my subject position complex, yet clear. Providing a thorough interpretation of the unbearable realities of both victims and perpetrators became, by and through the writ- ing of this book, an identity challenge that went beyond my scholarly aims. My heartfelt thanks to all the people who helped me during the writing of this book. To Prof. Avner de Shalit, the Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences at the Hebrew University Jerusalem for his extraor- dinary humanity, support, and willingness to provide assistance in any way. Likewise to the head of the Communication and Journalism Department, Prof. Menahem Blondheim, for his illuminating and wise suggestions, his full support, and for the invariably interesting discussions. To Prof. Tamar Liebes and especially Prof. Ifat Maoz for their continuous help and strong support. To my colleagues in the Communication and Journalism Department, especially Prof. Elihu Katz, Prof. Etti Shelly-Newman, and Dr. Zohar Kampf. A special MMOORRAAGG__PPrreelliimmss..iinndddd vviiiiii 88//88//22001133 66::4455::1100 PPMM ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ix thanks also goes to Prof. Nurith Gertz and Prof. Mihal Friedman for their invaluable assistance at every stage. My gratitude to Prof. Brian Winston for cheerfully volunteering his assistance throughout; as well as Prof. Daniel Dayan, Prof Bill Nichols, Prof. Michael Renov, and Prof. Philip Rosen. Thanks to Prof. Linda Williams for her generosity and warm assistance. I owe a special debt of gratitude to Prof. Janet Walker for her invaluable help and the many hours we spent in inspiring conversations. Thanks to Prof. Yeshayahu Nir for our deep friendship throughout the years, his unstinting support and help, always with a touch of humor. For help in obtaining the films, I am grateful to the Rabinovich Foundation for the Arts/ Cinema Project and its General Manager Giora Einy, to Yoav Abramovich and Ronit Kenan. Thanks to the Israeli Documentary Filmmakers Forum, the Jerusalem Cinematheque, The Israel Film Fund and its Executive Director Katriel Schory. Thank you to directors Tawfik Abu-Wael, Idan Alterman, Vidi Bilu, Amit Drori, Dalia Hager, Ari Folman, Eytan Fox, Dov Gil-Har, Aron Goldfinger, Nurit Kedar, Yair Kedar, Amos Kollek, Yair Lev, Eliav Lilti, Avi Mograbi, David Ofek, Yael Perlov, Eran Riklis, and Tamar Yarom for their cooper- ation. Thanks to Gal Uchovsky, Micha Shagrir – Tapuz Communications and the Moments Project, to Buzz Films, to Yehuda Biton Productions, to Arik Barnshtein – Lama Production, Haim Mecklberg and Esti Ya’akov– Mecklberg – 2team Productions, and Transfax Productions. Thanks to Helene Landau, my English editor, for the invaluable assistance she provided in bringing the book to press. Her unstinting devotion and uncompromising professionalism was felt every step of the way. Thanks to my student Avichay Sharon, a founder of Breaking the Silence, for his invaluable help, and my student Noa Alfia for her assistance. Thanks to Gal Yaniv from the multimedia center at the Hebrew University for always volunteering his help. Many thanks to Maria Marsh, the I.B.Tauris Middle East editor, and to Liza Thompson, the I.B.Tauris Visual Culture series editor. Thanks to Hannah Wilks for meticulous language editing and pre- paring the index. To my extended family and friends, thank you for your love and support. And my wonderful daughters Reout and Rotem. This book is MMOORRAAGG__PPrreelliimmss..iinndddd iixx 88//88//22001133 66::4455::1111 PPMM x WALTZING WITH BASHIR dedicated with love and appreciation to my sister, Shiffi Shmueli. And in memory of my dear friends Bilha Ben-David and Gary Bornstein. My thanks to the Faculty of Social Sciences at the Hebrew University for their generous support in funding this research; to the Levi Eshkol Institute for Social, Economic and Political Research in Israel at the Hebrew University; and the Smart Family Foundation Communications Institute at the Hebrew University for funding this research. Shorter versions of chapters 1-3 appeared in the Journal of Film and Video, Framework, and the International Journal of Communication respec- tively. A shorter version of chapters 4-5 appeared in Camera Obscura. MMOORRAAGG__PPrreelliimmss..iinndddd xx 88//88//22001133 66::4455::1111 PPMM