Powerful hostage story inspired cartoonist
Christophe André, an administrator working in the Caucasus with the humanitarian organization Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), was sleeping one night when a group of men burst into his bedroom, threw a sack over his head and took him into captivity. He was held in a series of bare apartments, his arm chained above his head to a radiator, unaware of what his kidnappers wanted, until he escaped 111 days later in Chechnya, barefooted, weak and malnourished.
André’s abduction took place 20 years ago, early in the summer of 1997, but kidnapping remains an occupational hazard for employees of non-governmental organizations such as MSF. In some politically volatile countries including Somalia, Syria and Afghanistan, kidnapping is almost a rite of passage.
Quebec-born cartoonist Guy Delisle — who now lives in France where he is considered a celebrity artist — remembers reading a newspaper interview with André after his escape. Delisle was captivated by the story because most people who have returned from a kidnapping don’t want to talk about their experiences. But Delisle was struck by André’s openness.
The story also had a deep personal connection for Delisle. His wife Nadège is a former administrator with MSF, and his experiences travelling with their family for her job is the subject of two of his acclaimed graphic novels, Burma Chronicles and Jerusalem: Chronicles from the Holy City.
When Delisle initially met André in person, he was full of questions, and took many notes even before they left the restaurant. “I didn’t think he wanted to go into detail, but he was talking very freely about the whole thing, and he gave us the whole story from beginning to end,” says Delisle, who immediately suggested to Andre they turn his memories into a comic.
Hostage is a nail-biter of a tale told completely from André’s point of view. As André’s captivity stretches out over months, Delisle ratchets up the tension with repetitive linework, a gloomy grey palette and tightly boxed-in panels, which just adds to the overwhelming sense of confinement. In developing the story, Delisle even took a few tips from old interviews with the master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock.
As André’s body gets weaker, the earlier fantasies of returning home for his sister’s wedding and his own homecoming seem impossible.
But then comes his incredible movie-worthy escape, thanks to a door left fortuitously open. Delisle suggests that, while readers can imagine themselves in André’s life-or-death predicament, or be confident that they would run or fight, it’s nearly impossible to know one’s reaction under all that physical and emotional stress.