Abril (Nov 2010)
THE THIRD MARGIN OF HISTORY. NOTES ON THE TWO FACES OF WAR BY DIANA ANDRINGA AND FLORA GOMES
Abstract
The essay intends to approach, taking the documentary authored by the Portuguese journalist Diana Andringa and the Guinea producer Flora Gomes as a starting point, the theme of the memories in conflict, and to reflect upon the manners in which the image archives may function in the process of construction of a collective and shared memory. In this sense, the Portuguese documentary in question seems to present a route that passes by the issue of the “war of memories” proposing a common reading of the histories which occurred on the Guinean front during the colonial war; proposing a reading of the facts which stress how, in accordance to what Amílcar Cabral affirmed, the fate of the two sides, in this particular case, Portugal and Guinea- Bissau, were indissolubly connected.