Επιμέλεια: Εύα Πετροπούλου Λιανού
It is not just an art however; Cinema reflects society’s soul and determines and re-determines the definition of culture, history and identity of the World. In Viewfinder: Into the World of Global Cinema, Houssine Yarti sets out mapping a small, but very promising section of the manifold faces of cinema: the figural, the narrative, the social, and the transformative. The book effectively carries out a comparative study of the concerns and possibilities of these cinemas of America, the Arab world, South Korea, India, and Europe to articulate the dreams of their societies.
Evidently, Yarti’s approach gives us more than the chronology of films or directors to watch; it provides a guided tour through the civilizational imagination. Cinema in each region takes a form that reflects the local culture, patrons as well as the region’s crises, achievements and changing face. The well-masterpieces of American cinema and its extremity, and elaborate melodramas and evocative story lines demythologize myths of American ‘rugged individualism and the American dream’. However, the Arab World’s cinema is a rich qualitative history that intertwines subversive chronicles with traditions and the progressing transformation of social structures.
Yarti’s Viewfinder provides much analysis on how identity, globalization and tradition combine and function. In arguing how directors and producers in these various areas deal with the multifaceted socio-political contexts, the book proves the global impact of filmmaking. It is not the analysis of cinematic techniques or genres: it is truly the analysis of human beings. In what way does a cinema of a particular society carry the historical essence of that society? What does an artwork of a particular culture tell us about that society’s values, what they feared or what they hoped to attain? Yarti gives a perfect mimicry of the world in Viewfinder in which the border between Europe and America is not a barrier but is bridged through the power of films. What he does for movies is he puts them in their proper cultural and historical perspective: that cinema is not just a form of entertainment but a way of viewing reality.
Enhancing the analyses of each chapter are the rich discussions of specific films that epitomize the identified themes and trends of these regions; Thus, the book remains a most useful reference for fans of cinema, students of culture, and observers of how people in different parts of the globe tell their stories. Still, Yarti encourages the readers to take such a cinematic journey with some measure of wonder and a willingness to accept. With Viewfinder: Into the World of Global Cinema, he reassures that each frame, each narrative, is humanity’s struggle seeking for purpose. By the glans of cinema, the world comes down to the view. Every picture is a pane, every movie is a stroke in the montage of culture and history.
