Page - 76 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 04/01

76 | Freek L. Bakker www.jrfm.eu 2018, 4/1, 63–77 a Reality that has left a trace when passed by: the face commanding us from above but in humility.”16 In this way Levinas seeks to explain how the encounter with the Other leads to an ethical relationship in which the subject who meets the Other is forced to re-evaluate.17 Precisely this occurs in these two films, as the Other, in particular the sight of the women and the children, makes the perpetrators conscious of what they have done or – in the case of the Germans – are doing. The social imaginaries differ, but the effect is nearly the same. In the German context guilt dominates; in the Indonesian context divine punishment and re- venge undertaken by the souls of the dead are to the fore. These differences naturally shape conversations with the perpetrators and how they cope with what they have done. The dialogue with the Germans thus deals with redemption, forgiveness and living with a bad conscience. The dia- logue with the Indonesians also deals with redemption, but here calming the spirits and averting divine punishment are more significant. It seems very likely that rituals will be performed in the hope that they will counter some of the ef- fects of their evil deeds. The rituals in the German context will be different. The church offers the opportunity to confess one’s sins and be forgiven or to talk about those sins in a pastoral dialogue, for everything can be brought to God in prayer, including remorse. Yet I expect that in Germany more secular means are also adopted to assist those who feel such guilt. Will such opportunities be sufficient? My personal experience as a Protestant minister communicating with people who experience such trauma suggests that no relief can be total. BIBLIOGRAPHY Bakker, Freek L., 2001, Balinees hindoeïsme, Wegwijs series, Kampen: Uitgeverij Kok. Bauman, Zygmunt, 1998, Postmodernity and Its Discontents, Cambridge: Polity Press, 2nd ed. Graudenz, John, 1930, German Pilots Course is a Long, Hard Grind; Work at Transport School from which von Gronan Flew Is Arduous – 25 in 1,000 Applicants Get In, New York Times, 9 November. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9E07E5DA1738E43ABC4153DFB767838B629E- DE&legacy=true [accessed 9 October 2015]. Grossman, David A., 1995, On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society, New York/Boston: Back Bay Books/Little Brown and Company. Levi, Primo, 2015, Appendix, in: Goldstein, Ann, The Complete Works of Primo Levi, vol. 1, New York/ London: Liveright, 167–193. Levinas, Emanuel, 1979, Totality and Infinity: An Essay of Exteriority, translated by Alphonso Lingis, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff. 16 Peperzak 1984, 11. 17 Levinas 1979, 195.