Poetry of Resilience

Katja Esson's documentary showcases a gathering of 27 poets who share the bond of having survived some of the most horrifying political atrocities of the 20th century, focusing on six who lived through the Hiroshima bombing, the Holocaust, the Cultural Revolution in China, the genocides in Rwanda and in the Kurdish areas of Iraq, and the Iranian Revolution. Holocaust survivor Lillian Boraks-Nemetz returns to her native Poland, where she recalls the people and places in her harrowing escape from the Warsaw Ghetto, while Hiroshima survivor Yasuhiko Shigemoto wanders through the modern city in search of reminders of the 1945 annihilation. A few of the subjects physically escaped the full brunt of their national tragedies while they were small children, but came of age in an emotionally challenging exile that frayed their family structure and left them feeling like permanent strangers in their adopted countries. Despite their geographical differences, each individual expresses a cogent observation of the worst of human nature while demonstrating an artistic strength that celebrates survival. The film's 40-minute running time prevents a fuller appreciation of each poet's personal history and writing (very little screen time is afforded to Vietnam's Nguyen Chi Thien, for example, whose work received international acclaim and won the Rotterdam International Poetry Prize while he was imprisoned by Hanoi's communist government), but poetry lovers will surely appreciate this invigorating celebration of life triumphing over evil. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (P. Hall)