Waltz with Bashir (2008)

The second movie that Blaine has recently shown me and one that is fascinating just by the content, Waltz with Bashir.

Plot: In 1982 the writer, director and star of the film, Ari Folman was a 19-year-old infantry soldier for the Israel Defense Forces during the Lebanon War. Then in 2006, he meets a friend from back then who tells him about his nightmares from the war, which leads of Folman revealing that he remembers nothing from that period of time. Later that night, he gets a vision about the night of the Sabra and Shatila massacre in Beirut. So he starts visiting other people who where there in Beirut to try to understand what happened there and revive his memories.

Now what is really fascinating about this movie is that it's specifically made as an animated documentary. Instead of just showing us photos and footage of the war and interviews that were shot in live action like you'd get in a documentary, they give us a documentary that does give us interviews and footage (albeit very briefly with the former), but they also use the film as its own story that despite not just telling us the history behind the war, still give us a harsh but clear message about the war, or maybe just war to begin with. It may not seem right to even call this a documentary just because this was animated, which is understandable. Heck, Ari Flman had trouble getting support for the movie to be green lit because people would have trouble finding this idea to work as both a documentary and an animated movie. And if you have trouble accepting it that way, especially if you're into documentary films, I can understand why the fact that it's animated should automatically disqualify it as a documentary in your opinion. But for me and Blaine, and I think most people who have seen this movie agree that it does work. Even if it's mainly not live action like most documentaries, (heck, as far as the film implies, I doubt they could've given us much with live action), it still is telling us a story with the help of interviewing people and other means to bring its audience into the world of its subject matter. And it's written, directed and starred by a man who took part in the things that were happening. And the animation fits very well with what they where doing. It's original, it's very well made, and most importantly it captures and teaches what it was like in that war and what an impact it was bringing to people who where a part of it in a way that it can't be done with live action.


And that's my review for Waltz with Bashir. It's an original, thought out movie that uses its animation to its advantage in a way that helps show its audience what happened there and the impact that it brought on people. If you haven't seen this movie, maybe even if you're not into documentaries, it's worth checking out.

Rating: 95%