Reviews page
Waltz with Bashir - 2008
This is the opening scene of Waltz with Bashir, an animated documentary about the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, when the Israeli military leadership failed to intervene when the Lebanese Christian militia massacred around 3000 Palestinian men, women and children in refugee camps in Sabra and Shatila. The opening scene is revealed to be a dream, as Boaz Rein-Buskila and Ari Folman - two friends who served in the Israeli Defence Force at the time of the invasion - sit in a bar discussing what the nightmare could represent. When Boaz reveals that his job during the conflict was to shoot dogs so that they could not alert their owners to the soldiers' presence, Ari realises that his own memory of his participation in the war is riddled with gaps. His only recollection is of himself and two other soldiers wading towards a beach from a silent sea, walking through a deserted town as day breaks, and being confronted by a stream of weeping, wailing women. As Ari tracks down his old comrades to piece together his time in the army, it is this sequence that we return to, as each of his friend's accounts reveal more about what happened during that fateful time.
Ari Folman is not only the protagonist of Waltz with Bashir, he is its writer and director and he provides the voice for his character. But while Folman's film is autobiographical, it also sets out the accounts of the other individuals involved in a way that is detailed and respectful, and the characters are voiced by their real-life counterparts, except Carmi and Boaz who are voiced by actors but whose testimonies are real. David Polonsky's art direction is phenomenal, like a graphic novel come to life. The flights of fancy and feats of imagination that animation allows enhance the hallucinatory effect of the film, such as the sequence in which a soldier lies on the belly of a giant sea nymph and watches his ship being attacked as though floating through a dream.
Waltz with Bashir is absolutely hypnotic; you just can't take your eyes off the screen. Its astounding visual creativity, coupled with the stories that are weaved together, create a picture of a time of great unrest and violence. It's a film about arguably the most shameful event in Israel's history and one man's struggle to make peace with the part he played in it. While a 90 minute animated documentary about war, guilt and the nature of memory is not exactly an easy sell, Folman's fascinating and moving film deserves to be seen by a wider audience than it will ultimately reach.
The final jolt is when the animation gives way to real footage of the aftermath of the massacres. Flies swarm around bodies that are piled up in the street and women stagger around the debris of their homes and lives, unable to comprehend the evil that has been done to them. The final shot, in which the body of a small child lies muddied and lifeless in the rubble, shocks the audience out of the dreamlike reverie of the stylised animation and ensures that the film will be remembered first and foremost as a powerful reminder of something that should never be forgotten, and that is why Waltz with Bashir is such an important piece of film-making.
by Catherine Leopold - 2008-12-20
A pack of snarling dogs darts through darkened streets, the hazy orange sunset illuminating their razor-like teeth and reflecting in their furious eyes. They crash through chairs and tables on the pavement while helpless pedestrians stand frozen with fear, until finally they reach their prey; at the top window of an apartment block a man stands impassive and unmoving, staring down at the feral beasts that have come for him.This is the opening scene of Waltz with Bashir, an animated documentary about the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, when the Israeli military leadership failed to intervene when the Lebanese Christian militia massacred around 3000 Palestinian men, women and children in refugee camps in Sabra and Shatila. The opening scene is revealed to be a dream, as Boaz Rein-Buskila and Ari Folman - two friends who served in the Israeli Defence Force at the time of the invasion - sit in a bar discussing what the nightmare could represent. When Boaz reveals that his job during the conflict was to shoot dogs so that they could not alert their owners to the soldiers' presence, Ari realises that his own memory of his participation in the war is riddled with gaps. His only recollection is of himself and two other soldiers wading towards a beach from a silent sea, walking through a deserted town as day breaks, and being confronted by a stream of weeping, wailing women. As Ari tracks down his old comrades to piece together his time in the army, it is this sequence that we return to, as each of his friend's accounts reveal more about what happened during that fateful time.
Ari Folman is not only the protagonist of Waltz with Bashir, he is its writer and director and he provides the voice for his character. But while Folman's film is autobiographical, it also sets out the accounts of the other individuals involved in a way that is detailed and respectful, and the characters are voiced by their real-life counterparts, except Carmi and Boaz who are voiced by actors but whose testimonies are real. David Polonsky's art direction is phenomenal, like a graphic novel come to life. The flights of fancy and feats of imagination that animation allows enhance the hallucinatory effect of the film, such as the sequence in which a soldier lies on the belly of a giant sea nymph and watches his ship being attacked as though floating through a dream.
Waltz with Bashir is absolutely hypnotic; you just can't take your eyes off the screen. Its astounding visual creativity, coupled with the stories that are weaved together, create a picture of a time of great unrest and violence. It's a film about arguably the most shameful event in Israel's history and one man's struggle to make peace with the part he played in it. While a 90 minute animated documentary about war, guilt and the nature of memory is not exactly an easy sell, Folman's fascinating and moving film deserves to be seen by a wider audience than it will ultimately reach.
The final jolt is when the animation gives way to real footage of the aftermath of the massacres. Flies swarm around bodies that are piled up in the street and women stagger around the debris of their homes and lives, unable to comprehend the evil that has been done to them. The final shot, in which the body of a small child lies muddied and lifeless in the rubble, shocks the audience out of the dreamlike reverie of the stylised animation and ensures that the film will be remembered first and foremost as a powerful reminder of something that should never be forgotten, and that is why Waltz with Bashir is such an important piece of film-making.