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19 juillet 2006

Palestine

JoesaccoPalestine_bookcover

Palestine by Joe Sacco

   

pic01aPalestine is a story of the Israeli occupation told using the form of a graphic novel. Based on several months of research and an extended visit to the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the early 1990s (where he conducted over 100 interviews with Palestinians and Jews) Palestine was the first major comics work of political and historical non fiction by Sacco, who has often been called the first comic book journalist.

pic01b

Saccos's insighful reportage takes place at the front lines, where busy marketplaces are spoilt by shooting and tear gas, soldiers beat civilians with reckless abandon, and roadblocks go up before reporters can leave. Sacco interviewed and encountered prisoners, refugees, protesters, wounded children, farmers who have lost their land, and families who have torn apart  by the Palestinian conflict.

pic01Saccos's Palestine brillantly and poignantly captures the essence of life under a repressive and prolonged occupation. Each page is equivalent to an essay of one of the many aspects of the occupation - killings, injuries, administrative detention, bureaucratic harrasment, death squads, land confiscation, torture... etc. His material is presented with a great deal of skill, insight, compassion and... humour. Sacco's work abolishes stereotypes and hinders simplification. His characters are real, rendered in all their humanity and disgrace. He captures their joy and humility. But ultimately, what makes Palestine so remarkable are the stories and scenarios that Sacco transcribed visually onto paper. Sacco held nothing back in his acount as he seemingly did his best to report what he saw. The viewer is able to experience a day on the streets of Rafah or Hebron, or even spend time in Ansar III. Sacco spends day after day living with families and befriending Palestinian men who speak English. pic01cThe meticulously rendered and crosshatched illustrations echo the stark reality that Sacco wishes to represent. Sacco visits hospitals, homes and witness casualties and hears stories from mother first hand about having their entire family killed in a week's time. It is true that Israeli soldiers are sometimes villanized throughout the book, but one believes this is truly how Sacco perceived them. This is a subjective account, but you can trust Sacco's story because you know exactly where he stands at all times.

pic01dPalestine has been favorably compared to the Pulitzer Prize winning Maus, by Art Spigelman, for its ability to brillantly navigate such socially and politically sensitive matter with the confine of the comic book medium. Saccos's work does stop at the occupied territories. He also has published Safe Area in Gorazde, telling of the four months in 95-96 that he spent in Bosnia Herzegovina, documenting the lives of people in the Muslim enclave of Gorazde. We will talk about this work very soon.

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