Waltz with Bashir

Ari Folman, Israel, 2008, 90 minutes

It is interesting to note the recent rise of success in Israeli cinema that has produced 3 world acclaimed films in the space of 18 months. What had been hindering Israel’s cinematic success was the conflict between the way the world perceives Israel from outside and how Israelis see themselves. In addition there is a history of averting the depictgion of world politics that impact on the country because Israelia are constantly embroiled in the conflicts.

Waltz with Bashir managed to change all this through its balance of tackling Israel’s controversial relations with its Middle Eastern neighbours as well as getting to grips with the more personal perspective of the soldiers who fought. It also gets to the world stage through its majestic use of animation in order to tell a story that couldn’t be told with normal film making methods, instead the animation contributes to the major themes of memory unreliability, the creativity of imagination and the surreal element of warfare.

It is difficult to outline any plot because the only way to describe the film is through its intention, which is an ex-soldier’s quest to reform his memory of the Israeli role in the massacre of a Lebanese refuge camp in the 80s.

In 1982 Folman was a 19 year old infantry soldier in the Israel Defense Forces. In 2006 he meets with a friend from the army service period, who tells him of the nightmares connected to his experiences from the 1982 Lebanon War. Folman is surprised to find out that he does not remember a thing from the same period. Later that night he has a vision from the night of the Sabra and Shatila massacre the reality of which he is unable to tell. In his memory he and his soldier friends are bathing at night by the seaside in Beirut to the light of flares descending over the city. Folman rushes off to meet another friend from his army service, who advises him to discuss it with other people who were in Beirut at the same time to understand what happened there and to relive his own memory.

The film follows Folman in his conversations with friends, a psychologist and the reporter Ron Ben-Yishai who was in Beirut at the same time.

Review by Mirella Yandoli
Written for EUFS Programme Spring 2009