Ciné-Guerrillas/Non-Aligned: Scenes from the Labudović Reels review – thoughtful and interesting | Movies

It’s worth watching these two thoughtful documentaries by Mila Turajlić which, through the person of Marshal Tito’s favorite cameraman, Stevan Labudović, highlight and question the role of cinema in forging political narratives. The first, Ciné-Guerrillas: Scenes from the Labudović Reels (★★★★☆), is directly focused on the photographer’s own story; particularly a key episode when, as part of Yugoslavia’s global anti-colonialist campaign, he was sent to cover the ongoing Algerian War of Independence.

A former adolescent partisan eager for adventure, Labudović, as Tito’s envoy, enjoyed unlimited access to the National Liberation Army (NLA). Willing to put himself in the line of fire to get key angles in the fight against the French, he became a sort of Robert Capa or Don McCullin of the “Third World” (by the late 1950s, an ambitious term still referring to “non-military”). aligned”, often newly independent countries looking for an alternative to the geopolitics of the strongest). As Algeria did not have a film industry, Labudović’s skills were indispensable in countering the French portrayal of freedom fighters as brutal fighters. fellagha (bandits) and, beyond, by emphasizing their emancipatory character to influence world opinion.

France has tried to obstruct the discussion and legitimacy of the Algerian question at the international level, in the same way as the United States is currently trying to do with Gaza and Russia with Ukraine. But, as an Algerian lobbyist points out here, Labudović’s silvery images showing guerrilla maneuvers and assaults in the North African maquis helped make the conflict visible. Shortly after, the UN adopted the anti-colonialist resolution in 1960 that led to Algeria’s independence. While Tito had his plans for a new, less hegemonic global community, Ciné-Guerrillas is an inspiring reminder that the global democratic machinery already existed and worked well when oiled by the right narrative.

The narrative arc is fully realized in Ciné-Guérillas, the decorated hero. But Turajlić likes to highlight the editorial choices made along the way, such as the propaganda scenes that Labudović was forced to stage, or his reluctance to put death on camera. This second, more self-aware segment, Non-Aligned (★★★☆☆), delves deeper into this aesthetic work and questions whether it produces lasting political narratives. Confronted with the moldy boxes of film from the Filmske Novosti (Yugoslav News) organization for which Labudović worked, she wonders if these orphaned fragments have any meaning today, the Yugoslav project having long since died. Walter Benjamin’s opening quote rings pessimistically: “History is broken down into pictures, not stories.” »

The contradiction is that Turajlić is obviously nostalgic for the clear narrative line; the idealism and moral clarity that animated Tito’s first non-aligned summit in Belgrade in 1961 (filmed by Labudović), the ocean-straddling romance of the Galeb, the Yugoslav diplomatic ship in which the president wooed his Asian and African partners (now a rusty Croatian shipyard). Turajlić focuses on how Tito’s new vision was interpreted by the superpowers and their subordinates hostile to the idea of ​​deviating from the same old story. Filming at the Belgrade Zoo, NBC describes the non-aligned leaders as “a collection as unnatural as the small animals gathered here.”

But wanting to save the story in the images, caught in its allegiances between the affirmation of the message and the interrogation of the medium, Turajlić does not produce a satisfactory answer as to why the non-aligned movement failed politically and aesthetically. While Labudović deplores the realpolitik which crushed the Yugoslav vision, the director retreats into a hauntological reflection on the images and worries about the technique.

Perhaps Turajlić could have interrogated the movement more deeply. In Ciné-Guérillas, an Algerian colleague of Labudović remembers being rebuffed by the new government when it proposed a documentary unit to show the whole truth about the war. He doesn’t say why. Perhaps the new revolutionaries were still beholden to the old methods of power and could not engage with their own story of renewing human dignity. Turajlić appears disillusioned by this defeat, and she misses an opportunity to shed new light at a time when new global actors seek to redefine the world order once again.

• Non-Aligned: Scenes from Labudović’s Reels and Ciné-Guérillas: Scenes from Labudović’s Reels are at Bertha DocHouse, London from May 31.