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Similarities Between The Fiftieth Gate And Au Revoir Les Enfants

Decent Essays

When considering the events of the past, the selective nature of representation predestines the unattainability of an absolute truth. However, a deep understanding can be achieved through such representations of history and memory in conjunction. The novel The Fiftieth Gate by Mark Baker, a discussion of his parent’s experiences as Holocaust survivors and the film Au Revoir Les Enfants by Louis Malle, about a young boy’s friendship with a Jewish hideaway in a French boarding school, both exemplify this notion. They achieve their deeper meaning through a dynamic relationship; history informing memory and memory informing history, both within the context of a post-WWII period of rebuilding. Their respective forms; novel and film are crucial in the how their composers represent meaning. Throughout The Fiftieth Gate, in a …show more content…

As evident when Malle described the film on the screenplay; “I reinvented the past in the pursuit of a haunting and timeless truth”. He acknowledges that “truth” does not exist, but that through his own representation of a mix of history and memory, a deep understanding of the past can be conveyed. Malle represents history through recurring Nazi imagery, and historically accurate anti-Semitic signs labelled “No Jews allowed”. This has a powerful effect on the viewer, who in turn can understand the events at a greater level. Malle stated in a 1999 interview; “the process of representation is tortured and complicated.” His choice to include researched historical information and not just that of his young memory, places the emotive journey of the film into a wider context or reality and detail. The way in which history informs memory within the film is essential in achieving a viewer’s deep and real understanding of the

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