The child witness and cultural memory in European war cinema

Historians and cultural theorists have recognized the power of cinema to provide narratives that give shape and coherence to the past. The trope of the child witness has had a particular provenance in European cinema that has chronicled war and trauma. This article tracks the ways in which the device has been employed and re-employed since World War II, chronicling the social and psychological legacies of war violence: in Europe and in Italy after World War II; in Spain during the early years of the Franco dictatorship; and in Spanish cinema after three decades of democracy.