Abstract/Summary

This paper will look at Tabu (Miguel Gomes, 2012) as an instance where the indictment of colonialism emerges from the gaps between the different layers of reality and between these and the concurring narrative media utilised. The story is told from the point of view of split subjectivities who are at pains in recognising themselves in their memories of the Portuguese colonial actions in Africa. In Tabu, memories appear in the form of allegories and parables of legendary tales, such as One Thousand and One Nights and Robinson Crusoe, which reconstruct the coloniser as a suicidal explorer changed into a crocodile. This in turn is revealed to be the subject of a film within a film that clashes against the parodic use of music and voiceover commentary. The chapter will focus on the ways in which these narrative strategies rely on the creation of atmosphere in order to convey meaning.