Irradiés

Meticulously, a man’s hands assemble a model house in which he places a saved treasure as in a shrine: a family photo. Thus begins a journey into pain. The screen is split into a triptych, giving rhythm to the pictures. Each tragedy is unique, but in the repetition of the images there is that dull noise from which there is no escape. Irradiés is made by people who have survived physical and psychological irradiation as a result of war, and is recommended to those who believe they are immune to it: “What it means to be a survivor cannot be put into words. To live on, to make contact with this irradiation, for which there may be no cause, no knowledge, but from which there is no protection. Evil radiates. It hurts – even later generations. But beyond this pain lies innocence.” (Panh) Irradiés is not an opus made for the art gallery, but an extreme, necessary film that penetrates the eye and heart with unyielding force. Rithy Panh maintains the role of witness; like Marceline Loridan, who also survived, he is living with irradiation and yet maintains a clear view of life.