To see Palmyra" in a packed cinema (as I did in Frankfurt) is an uncommon entertainment. The audience - ready to follow an art historical documentary about the famous antique city in Syria - is continually drawn into a 90-minutes-long passionate reflection on the making of a legend, an archaeological treasure-island, an earning place for poor desert people, and a battlefield for propaganda and destruction. The voice of the filmmaker, heard throughout without ever seeing the man, has nearly a preacher's authenticity, emotionally very different from the usual commentator sound. It follows the images,develops ideas out of their content and form, instead of using them simply as illustration. This makes the film so intellectually rewarding. It is really an essay-film", as Hans Puttnies calls it in the subtitle, a visual inquiry into the nature and history of our cultural greed for monuments.
On the other hand: It is also the only filmed record of the gone beauty of Palmyra, as the original footage that forms the basis of his narrative, was shot by Puttnies himself in 2008, unaware, of cause, that the unique temples and tomb towers would be destroyed by ISIS in 2015. This visual testimony alone will ensure the film a permanent value. But for me the most enduring part came at the end when a fifteen year old boy who sells necklaces to tourists talks in the Agora about Palmyra as his homeland, as his soul- ground, as a place he can never leave. The boy, as Puttnies told the audience in a discussion after the screening, is now living as a war refugee in Denmark.
On the other hand: It is also the only filmed record of the gone beauty of Palmyra, as the original footage that forms the basis of his narrative, was shot by Puttnies himself in 2008, unaware, of cause, that the unique temples and tomb towers would be destroyed by ISIS in 2015. This visual testimony alone will ensure the film a permanent value. But for me the most enduring part came at the end when a fifteen year old boy who sells necklaces to tourists talks in the Agora about Palmyra as his homeland, as his soul- ground, as a place he can never leave. The boy, as Puttnies told the audience in a discussion after the screening, is now living as a war refugee in Denmark.
