Contemporary French Civilization

Reworlding Tunisia: sacrifice in post-revolutionary cinema

Contemporary French Civilization (2018), 43, (1), 33–54.

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3828/cfc.2018.3
Language
English
Pages
22

Abstract

Sacrifice permeates narratives of revolution and of national identity. In the context of the 2011 Tunisian revolution, the visual trope of sacrificeas-legitimacy has accrued particularly strong domestic and transnational force. This essay explores how the visual trope of sacrifice emanates from, and circulates through, recent documentaries and fiction films including Serge Moati’s Artistes en Tunisie (2013), Nadia El Fani’s Même pas mal (2012), Amine Chiboub’s Résistance (2013), and Moncef Barbouch’s Conflit (2014). These works highlight the visual circulation, recycling, and redefinition of sacrifice as integral to the history of the popular uprising. As a figure of dissent, sacrifice works by exceeding and pushing back against mainstream ideologies, articulating revolutionary calls for democratization. Yet it can also bolster monolithic formulations of national and religious belonging. In tracing a range of recent filmic depictions of sacrifice, I ask what is captured in, and what escapes from, this powerful figure. Finally, how might sacrifice work to “reworld” – reinvent, redefine, and reposition the Tunisian cultural identities mediated in film? Given Maghrebi cinema’s progressive “de-orbiting” (Martin) from its traditional economic centers, toward a more dynamic, transnational culture of cinéma-monde, what are the stakes for Tunisia’s new, multiple, and competing figurations of revolutionary sacrifice?

Le concept du sacrifice imprègne les récits de la révolution et de l’identité nationale. Dans le contexte de la révolution tunisienne de 2011, le trope visuel du sacrifice assume une signification qui s’avère particulièrement puissante aux niveaux domestique et transnational. À partir d’une analyse de films et de documentaires récents (Artistes en Tunisie, Serge Moati, 2013; Même pas mal, Nadia El Fani, 2012; Résistance/Sumud, Amine Chiboub, 2013; Conflit, Moncef Barbouch, 2014), le présent article se propose d’étudier le trope du sacrifice qui en émane. Ces films soulignent la circulation et la redéfinition du sacrifice, élément intégrant du sort du soulèvement général. Comme figure du dissensus, le sacrifice excède et résiste à l’idéologie dominante, exposant l’appel révolutionnaire à la démocratisation. Cependant cette figure peut également renforcer des discours monolithiques d’appartenance nationale et religieuse. En traitant des représentations visuelles du sacrifice, nous cherchons à identifier ce qui y est capté, et ce qui s’en échappe. Enfin, comment est-ce que cette figure “re-monde” – c’est à dire réinvente, redéfinit, et repositionne – les identités culturelles tunisiennes médiatisées dans le cinéma? Étant donné le “dé-orbitage” (Martin) du cinéma maghrébin, qui s’éloigne progressivement de ses centres économiques traditionnels pour créer un “cinéma-monde” véritablement dynamique et transnational, quels sont les enjeux des nouvelles figurations, multiples et concurrentielles, du sacrifice révolutionnaire en Tunisie?

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Bliss, Greta