ANTE BABAJA (1927-2010) (II)

Essayistic component in Ante Babaja’s films: body as a trial

The author explores essayistic components in Ante Babaja’s work by observing some of his films which are usually considered documentaries in the light of an essayistic model of creation as an independent field of film. These are renowned works – A Day in Rijeka, The Body, Cabin, The Waiting Room, The Old Women, Good Morning – in this case analyzed in the framework of a (primarily francophone) theoretical tradition within film studies and philosophy but also on the basis of past observations regarding Croatian film studies. However, it should not be forgotten that the essayistic component of Babaja’s concept is also evident in his feature-length films (The Birch Tree, Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh, The Stone Gate) so the thesis on the meditation on death, together with naturalism in poetic essays The Waiting Room and The Old Women, can also be perceived as a sketch for Babaja’s feature-length films. Author’s observations on the essayistic element of the mentioned works are thus highly important for general understanding of Babaja’s work.

Ivana Keser Battista