Graphic Film

A review of Waltz With Bashir.

Waltz With Bashir is a unique film that is both watched and experienced, the kind of art that does far more than entertain. It is advertised as an “animated documentary,” but the filmmaker himself, Ari Folman, admitted that it would more accurately be described as an “animated autobiography.” (I was privileged to attend a screening of the film that featured a Q&A session with Mr. Folman afterward.) Mr. Folman also described Waltz With Bashir as an “anti-war film.” It succeeds as both, opening the door to allow us to witness a part of Mr. Folman’s life that he could understandably have preferred not to think about, let alone share, and in so sharing, he deeply impacts his audience with his very personal chronicle of the senselessness and horrific cost of war. While seeing Waltz With Bashir may only take up 87 minutes of screen time, it will occupy your mind for far longer.

Waltz With Bashir tells the story of Mr. Folman’s journey to recover suppressed memory of certain of his time served in the Israeli army. Mr. Folman was a soldier during Israel’s 1982 war against Lebanon and was among those troops who advanced into West Beirut. It was during this campaign that Bashir Gemayel, senior commander of the “Phalangists” Christian militia, was elected President of Lebanon. Soon afterward, Bashir Gemayel was assassinated. In response, his Phalangist army, declaring their aim to be the purging of Palestinian fighters (who were suspected of committing the assassination), massacred large numbers of women, children and elderly Palestinians who were occupying the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps. The gaps in Mr. Folman’s memory pertained to his and his fellow soldiers’ role or lack thereof in that massacre. In order to fill in those holes, Mr. Folman reconnects with a number of men with whom he served and interviews them, attempting to use their recounting of their memories to jog his own.

From its opening moments, Waltz With Bashir jarringly demands your attention and very cleverly takes one into the film by introducing an illustration of the recurring war-related nightmare of one of Mr. Folman’s friends, which involves being chased by 26 rabid dogs. It is through his friend’s distorted memory that Mr. Folman confronts his own and sets about on his quest to set his own personal record straight. The film does take concentration to follow, particularly because there’s no set-up at the beginning to explain the history of events behind and during the 1982 Lebanon war. But the manner in which the information unfolded ultimately was more compelling than if it had been presented linearly, and I applaud Mr. Folman’s choice to challenge the audience rather than spoon-feed it.

Similarly, Mr. Folman challenges his audience to confront unsettling and ugly truths throughout the film. It was disquieting to hear the perspective of these men who served as Israeli soldiers so casually admit that in their youth, they were scared shitless and really didn’t know what they were doing. Disquieting because such statements could easily apply to any nation’s soldiers and put war in context: really, it must be what nearly every war is about for its combatants from the inside out. Even more disturbing was the parallel that a psychologist draws with Mr. Folman in a session depicted in the film regarding the complicity of the act of bystanding, because of the accuracy of that parallel. It was for me one of the most affecting moments of the film.

The medium utilized by Waltz With Bashir, Mr. Folman’s choice to animate this film, was likewise effective. It infuses a dreamlike quality to the illustration of the visions or hallucinations with which he and his friends had replaced certain actual memories. And it allows the audience to absorb certain disconcerting events without shutting down and distancing themselves. It also makes the last 50 seconds of the film all the more shocking and horrifying in contrast. The bottom line is that while Waltz With Bashir can feel somewhat slow and at times a bit arduous to watch, it’s worth the effort. Seeing this film will make you think and that’s a good thing.