Waltz With Bashir

Waltz With Bashir

Directed by: Ari Folman

Starring: Ron Ben-Yishai

Genre: Documentary/ Animation

Run Time: 90 min.

Release Date: August 2008

On The Web: Official Site

Teaser: Movie Trailer

Reviewed by Byron Merritt

WALTZ WITH BASHIR is really a film in a class of its own. It is, in a very real sense, an animated documentary. Which initially begs the question: "Why?" Why film it in an animated fashion rather than simply interviewing soldiers directly and showing the reality of it via real people? This will be the hardest hump to get over for most viewers. I know it was for me. Many times, I said to myself, "Gosh, I’d really like to see the real thing here."

Some of it, I believe, was done to hide the true identities of those Israeli soldiers who might have been involved during the 1982 invasion of Lebanon. And who could blame them. The disaster that is the Middle East still rages from day to day.

The impression one gets from the film is that of a dream-(nightmare)-scape in which an Israeli soldier tries to piece together his memories (or lack thereof) regarding his time in the military and his involvement in the Lebanon invasion. This is shown in muted, yellow-ish colors that washes across the screen and gives the viewer a sense that something isn’t quite right. And it isn’t. The soldier is blocking something here, not wanting to remember, trying to put a positive spin (or absent spin) on what was surely a bloody mess. This was painful to watch on an emotional level because you knew that reality was far different, and far more brutal. One dream-scape involves the narrator being plucked off a boat by a beautifully large, buxom woman just before the boat explodes. One could only imagine the reality of what actually happened there.

Comparisons between this film and PERSEPOLIS were also quickly made, as one is an animated autobiography and the other an animated war documentary. But Persepolis stands out as the better of these two for one distinct reason: Persepolis would never have been allowed to be filmed in Iran. Plus, it was a much cruder representation, with black and white thick drawings indicating the strictness of the Iranian government. Whereas here with Waltz With Bashir, it it often full color with the narrator sitting around a coffee table chatting with someone about his war experiences. It pulled the story down to a crawl when this happened, which made it less enjoyable.

Artistically speaking one can understand why director Ari Folman chose the animated medium in which to tell his story (the dream sequences are a prime example), but it still seemed just a tad forced, as if Ari were trying to do something different rather than telling a good story that probably (to my eyes) would’ve been more engrossing had it not been told via animation.

Still, this is a unique film amongst the animation genre. And one that many people might find entertaining. I thought it was just okay.

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Image from Waltz With Bashir

Ron talks to a friend about his lost memories of the war