Waltz With Bashir

Waltz with Bashir

Get ready to give your Saturday morning cartoons a real kick in the ass! Waltz with Bashir is an unforgiving look at the harsh reality of war and genocide; one that will leave you questioning anything you thought you knew about the horrible subject. Waltz with Bashir, a 2008 Israeli animated film by director Ari Folman, chronicles the true and very personal story of Folman's and a number of other interviewees experiences during the 1982 invasion of Lebanon by the Israeli Army. It mainly focuses on the events leading up to and during the Sabra and Shatila Massacres, during which 800-3000 (the exact number is disputed) Palestinians were massacred by the Christian Phalangist Militia., and all the while the Israeli Army was watching in plain sight. Spoiler Alert: While this may seem out of place, the film makes a sudden transition at the end to real footage of the after math of the massacre, and this sudden change from animation to live-action film hits the viewer emotionally like a baseball bat. Because Folman has some apparent "mental block" on his personal experiences during the war, he decides to try and again back, his memories through interviews while at the same time making an amazing movie. Don't think this is a documentary or a biopic, it is neither, what it truly is, is an intriguing and hardcore look on the effects of war on those who have experienced it firsthand.

One of the things that really stood out to me about this film was the almost dream-like quality in which the story was told; it seemed that it intentionally tried to blur the line between fantasy and reality. By doing this it gives a very distinctive view on the idea that in order to cope with the atrocities of war, the human mind must partially or completely block and/or distort events in the human psyche. The director's choice to use animation, which contains hand-drawn, flash, and 3D animation, gets this theme across flawlessly. This particular style of animation, which look incredibly real at some points and cartoonish at others, conveys the meaning of the film better than any other medium possibly could have. It invites the audience in to watch closely with its distinct feel and then throws a heavy narrative and theme at the viewer's face that no one could have seen coming.

The director's incredible attention to detail and his knowledge of what will have the strongest effect on the viewer appear to me to be second-to-none. The placement of each scene and it's emotion only help to further this idea. There is not a scene in the entire film in which the audience is either bored or detached from what is occurring onscreen. Each moment is delicately crafted to convey the nuanced meaning that the director wanted to get across at the specific point in time. Only by taking 4 years, which is about twice as long as the production time of most movies, to make this film could Folman have produced something so tragically beautiful as this. Only by viewing this film can one truly understand the incredibly deep meaning that this film has to offer.

Make no mistake, this is unlike any animated film I had ever seen before it, it is dark, gritty, and violent, not exactly something to enjoy with the whole family. But for those mature enough to understand it's meaning, I highly recommend it, hence this score

The Verdict: 9.5/10-Almost perfect (1 being the worst 10 being the best)