Movie Review - 'Waltz With Bashir'

Waltz With Bashir Featuring the voices of Ari Folman Ori Sivan, and Roni Dayag Directed by Ari Folman Rated R

What is film? At its most basic, I mean. It's visual storytelling, and those two things don't always have to be part of a great marriage. There are good films that aren't that all that interesting visually, just as there are stunning technical achievements that dwarf their stories. Waltz With Bashir is one of the very rare films of the past few years that has both achieved something new with its visual style and with its storytelling techniques. For American audiences, it is even more revealing than it would be in its home nation of Israel because of what the story is about. You don't have to follow the news too closely to be aware of the continuing bloodshed in the Middle East between Israel and its neighbors - Religion in action! And if you're of a certain age you'll probably remember how deeply this violence intensified in the 1980s. But, like so many things that happen halfway around the world, we tend to lose sight of it in this country after some time has passed. Director Ari Folman was a soldier in the Israeli army in 1982, at the time of the Sabra and Shatila Massacre, in which up to 3,500 Palestinians in Lebanon were slaughtered in three days. The attacks were in response to the assassination of the 35-year-old Lebanese President-elect, Bachir Gemayel (or Bashir, if you prefer), who had weeks earlier begun diplomatic negotiations with Israel. At the beginning of his film, Folman is listening to a friend recount a dream that has haunted him from that time period, after which Folman reveals that he has never thought of the Lebanon War. Not once. But the floodgates open and Ari begins to wonder why he can't connect all the pieces. There's something from his memory missing, and in its place, a kind of dreamlike vision of himself swimming in the sea with his friends, hundreds of yards from the violence. Folman tracks down the friends he served with and those by his side in 1982 with whom he hasn't remained close, just trying to put it all together. Was he near the massacre, in the massacre, or somewhere else entirely - he just doesn't remember. He also can't recall why he didn't try to stop the massacre or why nobody else did, for that matter. With just those facts, Waltz With Bashir is a tremendous human story to chronicle. As a documentarian, Folman can dig even deeper than if this were a straight dramatic narrative. But the key element here is that Waltz With Bashir is an animated film. That's right: It's an animated foreign language documentary, if you prefer to look at it that way. As heart rending as the process of this personal evaluation and rediscovery had to be for Folman, making the film was equally grueling in other ways. Bashir was shot as a real video, which was then turned into a storyboard and then transferred to nearly 2,500 illustrations, described by the director as "a combination of Flash animation, classic animation and 3D." It's not rotoscoped animation, which is drawn over the actual film, and there's an important distinction. It's a weighty topic and a serious film, no doubt. The subject matter has an off switch for a lot of people, and that's understandable. But Waltz With Bashir is a remarkable testament to the power and creativity of filmmaking and how it can bridge the unthinkable with art.

Comments

[Marcus Marley]

Clever analysis my friend! There are certain directors who come to the scene and just blow every one's minds... i think that's the best kind of movies you can watch, those breaking the limits and barriers of contemporary films. Examples are many, such as DogVille, Cidade de Deus, Irreversible, Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind and many others. Funny thing is learning that some of these have been sponsored by companies like Xlpharmacy or Coca Cola.

[rogelio]

I had never watched 'Waltz With Bashir' movie and it was incredible but I was so surprised with the previews before the movie because there were a lot of Generic Viagra commercials I don't why.