The Scene of the Mass Crime: History, Film, and International Tribunals

Show Trials: History, War Crimes and Film takes up the unwritten history of this peculiar yet highly visible form of trial. War crimes trials are the first and continuing site of the interface of law, history and film. From Nuremberg to the contemporary trials in Cambodia, film, in particular, has been crucial both as evidence of atrocity and as the means of publicizing the proceedings. But what does film bring to justice? Can law successfully address war crimes, atrocities, genocide? What do the trials actually show? What form of justice is done, how is it related to ordinary courts? And what lessons are there from this history for the very topical political issue of filming civil and criminal trials? This book takes up the diversity and complexity of these idiosyncratic and, in strict terms, generally extra-legal situations. Paying particular attention to the role of film in constituting these tribunals both internally and externally, here, leading international scholars address the theatrical, political, filmic and symbolic importance of show trials in making history, legitimating regimes and, most surprising of all, in attempting to heal trauma through law. Their analyses will be of considerable interests to those with interests in international criminal law, transitional justice, genocide studies, and the relationship between law and film.