Description d'un combat

Chris Marker's DESCRIPTION D'UN COMBAT was my first acquaintance with a filmmaker who questions and encourages his own images. By his words, he drives them on to form a chain. The images string themselves according to the maker's rhythm of thinking and, strung together, they in their turn provide him with new ideas. In this way, the mental process remains active and it seems as if the documentary film for the first time has a protagonist: the man with the camera has learned to speak. DESCRIPTION D'UN COMBAT poses questions to Israel but it seems as if the Palestinians are not yet stirring. They still remain off-screen. Johan van der Keuken