We Will Remember Them

“In Flanders fields the poppies grow between the crosses...” This poem by Canadian Lieutenant-Colonel John Mc Rae evokes one of the worst carnages of the Great War, which took place around Ypres. Razed to the ground during the conflict, the town was reconstructed thanks to German reparations and has become a world-famous centre of commemoration. The popies conveyed by the soldier are now mass-produced: poppies are transformed into sprays of flower, earrings or any other memorial object bought as a souvenir by the many visitors converging in the region. A native of Ypres, Annabel Verbeke observes with amused perplexity this commemorative carnival that ensures the town financial income and sustainable employment—a real army is required to maintain the hundred or so military cemeteries. Thanks to the precision of her framing and the well-judged length of the shots that compose it, We Will Remember Them offers a scathing meditation on the way in which people transform the memory of “l'Histoire avec sa grande hache” into a tourist attraction.

Emmanuel Chicon

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