Last Essay Assignment - La Jetée

     La Jetée is a French sci-fi short movie that was made by Chris Marker in 1962. In the film, the way of narration is actually unusual because it was made in a different way; the technique of “photo-roman” was used. The story focuses of the period of Third World War. A man is tasked with an experiment by scientists and his aim is travelling to the past and the future in order to find the solution to save the present, which is completely destroyed after the war and riddled with radioactivity. When themes of the movie is explored, it seems that time and memory are crucial themes for the film because it involves some significant messages and hidden meanings for both.
      Actually, the narration of "photo-roman" was used in the film for emphasizing the preservation of memories. With photography, any instants, memory and events can be stored. Relatively, images also evoke memories. Some images in the film can easily evoke people’s memory about the war and therefore, it also reminds the past with its technique. With this way, audience can also get a sense of time travelling. Time travelling is a necessity for treating the concept of time. The man’s time travel needs the help of his memory, so that he appeals to those images. In that case, the technique of "photo-roman" has a considerable role on the plot of the film. As the film moves through the projector, these film images become“present” as they are happening now and it also shows that each person can live in their past only with their photographs. In that case, the film might be considered as realist because it presents images of memories, instead of screening those memories directly.
     While he is travelling back to the past, he meets with a woman that he is fond of and dates her. Meanwhile, he is just a prisoner who is also a subject of experiment in the real present. However, while his aim is preventing the expected future, he is completely fascinated by that woman and it creates a serious problem. Because of the woman, he cannot make any change in the past. It actually demonstrates that the past cannot be changed and one way or another, the fate is going to happen. This film is a reminder of the cyclical nature of time. The narrator intones that one cannot escape time, and also the protagonist cannot, though it is only in his final moments that he realizes this. In a nutshell, it underlines the inescapable side of time, although some memories of past create some tragic traumas. Turning back to past, not literally, can be only made in minds with images and photographs, therefore memories are a kind of key of the door that is opened to the past.