Ruins: a History of Contemporary Warfare

By Cédric Gruat

Warfare took a turn in the 20th Century. More violent and destructive than ever, it spread beyond the battlefields affecting civilians and wrecking cities in its wake.
Revealing men’s ability to self-destruct, what are these ruins symbolizing? Used for propaganda, to galvanize crowds, to stir up hatred or to sow terror and fear, they remain. Between reconstruction and conservation, erasing the trauma and commemorating, from WWI to the ongoing civil war in Syria, this film lays out a profound history of contemporary warfare over the last hundred years.