To counter the self-imposed amnesia of national reconciliation, Felix's reflectiveness is like a binder that glues together the country's memory of abuse. The characters Felix and Soho play themselves out against a grimy industrial background that recalls Johannesburg's poorest districts. Unlike cell animation, in which hundreds of individual cells make up the action, Kentridge literally erases or adds onto the drawings. We are essentially watching the creation of a drawing. Since charcoal never erases cleanly, the ghosts of previous images remain.
Erasure is never complete.
In Felix in Exile , one image changes into another. The films' soundtracks are spare, usually a string quartet or solo voice singing. Slight sound effects, like water pouring or paper crinkling, are used to enhance the shifting images. Kentridge is dealing specifically with the politics of South Africa, but the work takes on a universal human resonance. Unlike the artist Sue Coe, whose political paintings can be didactic, Kentridge lets a rounded human story emerge.