Title: Waltz with Bashir
Genre: documentary Running time: 90 minutes
How does one even begin to describe the quite unique and unusual documentary that is Waltz with Bashir?
Its uniqueness stems from the fact that, unlike the vast majority of documentaries made today, it is animated – a style which perfectly suits the grim nature of the subject matter.
Written and directed by Israeli film maker Ari Folman; the documentary focuses on his search for lost memories when he served in the Israeli Army in the 1982 Lebanon War.
It all begins when he meets up with an old army friend who tells him about the nightmares he has been having about the Lebanon conflict. Bizarrely, Folman remembers nothing and yet, as he drives away, he starts to remember a key moment in the struggle and thus his search to unlock the past begins.
Folman interviews a wide range of soldiers/friends he fought alongside - and others he did not – in the war. The men seem keen to talk, to unburden themselves of the horror of the conflict they lived through and survived, and do so in grim, descriptive detail.
Some of the men he interviewed are composites of real people or play themselves. One of the key reasons Folman chose to use animation is that a lot of the people he spoke to would not be filmed on camera or have their own voices used.
I firmly believe that, if the film had been done in any other way, it would not have been as effective or powerful.
By using this type of animation Folman has taken documentary making to another level. Never before have I felt so uneasy and moved by a film on war – it certainly hammered home for me why I am grateful that I have never been involved in a war before, as a soldier or civilian.
The animation used reminded me a bit of Francis Ford Coppola’s epic Apocalypse Now – it smacked of a type of desperation and madness and clearly depicted the futility of war.
Like Apocalypse Now, the soldiers in Waltz with Bashir tried to make the best of their situation by going surfing and watching porn in an abandoned villa in Beirut.
What is even more extraordinary about this documentary is that it is largely autobiographical. It focuses on the war and its after effects on Folman and yet it also deals with those fought alongside him.
This film pulls no punches about the brutality and madness of war - particularly the scene where the name of the movie is taken from. In this scene, an Israeli soldier is seen almost to be waltzing and firing his gun - on anything and everthing - on a Beirut street whilst surrounded by posters of Bashir Gemayel, the Christian Phalanges leader who was later assassinated, looking down on him.
The feeling you get is that, for Folman, the experience of making this film must have been cathartic – as I said it is autobiographical – and yet it also leaves many questions unanswered.
Foremost has to be who should take some of the blame for the massacre of the civilians of the Sabra and Shatila Palestinian refugee camps? The Christian Lebanese Phalangists carried out the killings but what role, if any, did the Israeli forces play in it? Were they complicit?
It is no surprise that the film is banned in Lebanon and even, in Israel, one critic lambasted the film for going too easy on the Israeli Army.
Ultimately, I guess the mark of a good documentary is if you should come away craving more information and this I certainly did.
Waltz with Bashir was a powerful tour de force that knocked me for six.
Rating: 8/10.
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