Film Review: Waltz With Bashir (2009)

Figure 1 - Waltz With Bashir (2009) - Film Poster

Waltz with Bashir (2008-09) is an animated retelling of the 1982 war of Isreal and Lebanon where the main character experiences repressed memories through his guilt for the Sabra and Shatila massacres which is told using a collection of interviews with people who witnessed the events first hand with the main character, the film is told from the perspective of members of the Isreali Defense Force allowing an audience to sympathise with them, "It is open to the objection that the overdog's pain takes precedence over that of the oppressed" (Bradshaw, 2008) Bradshaw suggests that the perspective is one that instead of being incredulous towards the oppressor, it leads an audience to understand the individual opinions of members of the IDF rather than the entirety of the nation collectively. The examination of the subject is interesting because of its ability to explain the destruction of war isn't solely held by the loser. 

Figure 2 - Waltz With Bashir (2009) - Painterly Scenery

Waltz with Bashir is "Told through painterly drawings in muted tones, it is an examination of repressed memories as much as it is of the Sabra and Shatila massacre that forms the agonizing core of its plot." (Bronner, 2008), it is arguable that the film is playing with animation to glorify the idea of war, a technique Folman uses to create an appeal to the film, and also to shield us from the brutality of graphic live action footage. The film works with the idea of repressed memories tying into the concepts of national guilt, Ari and his memory loss are metaphorical to Isreal and its repression of the events happening around the Shatila and Sabra Massacres which are widely being forgotten, the film suggests that the nation is repressing the events of 1982 from its history and therefore its memory.

Figure 3 - Waltz With Bashir (2009) - The camera breaks

Animation creates a lense in which to stylise a narrative, environment or in this case, a difficult subject matter, Waltz with Bashir uses animation to hide the extremely graphic nature of death, during an interview with a psychologist of Folmans she describes a technique used by one of her clients about how they dealt with the war, envisaging the war through a camera lense as a coping mechanism for the emotional impact on himself, the retelling is significant because it is a metaphor for the film itself in this regard it is suggested that "The camera breaks. We awake from our dream, unprotected." (Adams, 2008) which would arguably relate to the final scenes of the film where it suddenly loses the animation and switches to live-action footage of women screaming and mourning their murdered families amongst the destruction of their homes, it would suggest that our camera has broken and we suddenly see the real trauma which war creates, it is no longer romanticised and is fed to the audience in a naked, cold and merciless reality.  

Bibliography:

Adams, B. (2008). 'Waltz with Bashir': The Fallibility Yet Persistence of Memory. [online] International Documentary Association. Available at: https://www.documentary.org/column/waltz-bashir-fallibility-yet-persistence-memory [Accessed 5 Feb. 2019].

Bradshaw, P. (2008). Film review: Waltz With Bashir. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2008/nov/21/waltz-with-bashir-folman [Accessed 5 Feb. 2019].

Bronner, E. (2008). In ‘Waltz With Bashir,’ the Israeli Director Ari Folman Goes Looking for the Soldier He Used to Be. [online] Nytimes.com. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/14/movies/14bron.html [Accessed 5 Feb. 2019].

Illustration:

Figure 1 - Waltz With Bashir (2009) [film poster] - Ari Foleman, Bridgit Folman Film Gang, Les Film D'Ici, Razor Film Produktion, GMBH

Figure 2 - Waltz With Bashir (2009) [film still] - Ari Foleman, Bridgit Folman Film Gang, Les Film D'Ici, Razor Film Produktion, GMBH

Figure 3 - Waltz With Bashir (2009) [film still] - Ari Foleman, Bridgit Folman Film Gang, Les Film D'Ici, Razor Film Produktion, GMBH