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Decolonization and the Tunisian Boxer: "J'en ai vu des etoiles" (2007)
Abstract
Hichem Ben Ammar's "J'en ai vu des etoiles" records and recounts the stories of several Tunisian boxers from the 1920s to the present, and in so doing, develops a thesis about loss, regret, and anger. The film bears witness to the disappearance of a world, and what emerges from the accounts of his boxers and their trainers, managers, referees, friends, fans, and sons and wives, is a kind of allegory describing Tunisia's colonial past and the rocky road of decolonization that leads to the present. In the words of one retired boxer, as he stands before the former gym of the legendary trainer and amateur boxer Rezgui Ben Salah: "Whether you like it or not, it's a legacy . . . unfortunately now closed and in ruins." Ben Ammar has described his filmmaker's role as that of "observer and subjective witness," and he takes very seriously his ethical responsibility: "As the guardian of the words of individuals I had sought out, I made it my responsibility to listen to their voices without betraying them," adding: "The boxer is by definition the incarnation of a revolt against the injustice of society. How to restore the force of his protest How to render it audible There's the challenge."
Discipline
Media Arts
Geographic Area
Tunisia
Sub Area
Identity/Representation