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 Brave, unflinching look at war's horrors and moral costs Mar 07, 2010
This movie is one of the best accounts of the trauma that affects young men -- boys really -- sent to fight wars which deeply affects them decades after.
The war in question is the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon which quickly went bad and ended up with the Israelis providing a security perimeter for Christina Falangists to enter the Palestinian refugee camps of Sabra and Shatilla where they massacred several hundred civilians.
The Falangists were avenging the assassination of their leader, Bashir Gemayel, who gives his name to the movie's title. The Israelis ought to have know their Christian allies were bent on revenge. Moreover, on the night of the massacre, there were numerous reports trickling out of the camps that atrocities were taking place -- but no-one acted on them. The Israelis only stopped the killing the next morning.
Years later, through interviews with Israeli soldiers who took part in the war and psychologists, this animated movie examines the deep guilt and trauma many still feel. The animation is beautifully done -- some scenes are truly lyrical -- and it somehow allows the characters to become "everyman." We see young, poorly trained kids panic under fire and lash out by firing indiscriminately themselves killing civilians. We see a 12-year-old Palestinian kid wielding a rocket-propelled grenade, determined to kill and ending up himself being killed. The opening scene with ravening, yellow-eyes wolves bounding through the streets of Tel Aviv to howl under the balcony of one ex-soldiers is particularly striking.
These kind of scenes could apply to any war or insurgency and parallels between this conflict and the current U.S. struggles in Iraq and Afghanistan are clear and urgent. Yet there is a special Israeli angle. Some of these soldiers were the children of Holocaust survivors, making the moral failures of this war even more traumatic.
Making this movie was an act of courage and honesty and we should honor the filmakers and listen to their message.
0 of 4 found the following review helpful:
 Vile, Terrorist Propaganda Mar 06, 2010
I gave it a one because -9 was not an option.
If you want Vile, Terrorist Propaganda you're in luck.
If you like truth, avoid at all costs, you will have wasted your money and placed a coating of mud on your mind.
In the "special features" the director of this mess states it's slow because the budget was low. The movie portrays the Israeli Forces as bloodthirsty confused dope-smoking cowards, and the terrorists as the brave poor victims and victorious underdogs.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
A Powerful Work Of Art And Conscience. Feb 12, 2010
"Waltz With Bashir" is one of the great recent examples of how animation can be used not just as a tool for children's entertainment, but as a serious film medium that can have a powerful impact. It is unashamed at being an anti-war film, this is because the director lived and survived the 1982 invasion of Lebanon by Israel, he participated in it and had things to say through his memories and talent. Some on here are going nuts by bashing the film as "anti-Israel," shocked at a movie that would present a realistic, honest portrait of a certain political fantasy they want to keep alive as do most statist devotees. But "Waltz With Bashir" is not just about Israel, it is about war in general, about the experience of war and the brutal reality of violence. As an animated movie, it has deeper, more intelligent things to say than typical gung ho works like "Band Of Brothers" or even the recent "The Hurt Locker."
The film chronicles director Ari Folman's search for his memories of the Lebanon War and more specifically, the Sabra and Shatila massacre, a brutal massacre of Palestinian civilians by the Nazi-inspired Christian Phalange, which at the time was supported by Israel considering the Phalange's leader, Bashir Gemayal, was a potential puppet ruler the Israelis sought to install (for a detailed account of the whole war and the assassination of Bashir Gemayal, read Robert Fisk's brilliant book "Pity The Nation: The Abduction Of Lebanon"). Folman revists old army buddies to recount the war and his own memories of the night Israeli troops fired flares into the sky and stood by as the Phalange carried out is butchery.
This is not the sort of material one would immediately think of as cartoon material, but in the hands of Folman the movie is a masterpiece of the animation medium. The images are haunting and sometimes breathtaking in their depth and scope. Like the best films, the images sometimes say and express profound ideas not found in just the dialogue or plot. The beautiful music by Max Richter helps enhance the film's hypnotic power. Folman's story brilliantly travels from documentary to psychological landscapes, from questions of history and politics to topics of psychology and how memories work and transform themselves. Folman also manages to tell very human stories without resorting to holding big banners in our faces. The politics and other topics all come with a real sense of humanity.
One of the great achievements of "Waltz With Bashir" is how it uses its medium to explore the subject of war. There are moments as surreal as "Apocalypse Now" and as raw and honest as Oliver Stone's "Platoon." Folman is making big statements, but he makes them by simply sharing what he and his fellow soldiers witnessed during the invasion of Lebanon. The visions of war and death can sometimes be terrifying in their clarity. Like the great Israeli writers Uri Avnery and Gideon Levy, Folman doesn't march in step with those who only wish to glorify the Israeli state and every single one of its military operations, he puts a mirror to the reality of the violence and terror of war because no matter how much some try to paint over them with heroism, wars usually spiral into orgies of human corruption and criminal mayhem. In the era of Gaza and Afghanistan, "Waltz With Bashir" has very relevant things to say about the realities of occupation, the politics of war states and the human toll they impose on general populations. The ending of the movie is an especially shattering experience that brings the point home.
"Waltz With Bashir" asks tough questions, which is more than can be said about typical movies these days. It challenges the viewer, this is no doubt what disturbs the die hard Israel supporters on here who immediately respond to the movies with a whole scroll of "facts" or "historical notes" instead of discussing what Folman has to say, or even the accuracy of what Folman shows (and it is accurate even when one looks at Israeli scholarship on the issue). This is an important war film, because it is actually about war itself, it isn't just trying to tell a war story. Folman has made a work of truth and conscience, it will stand the test of time.
0 of 2 found the following review helpful:
 Waltz with Bashir? Feb 09, 2010
I was disappointed by this film. I had hoped for more insight regarding the Israel-Lebanon War. I thought this merely an exercise in soul cleansing. Not that that is bad. I just don't see how this film could be so highly rated. I guess the PC factor played into since it was sort of anti-Israeli. I learned nothing that was already common knowledge.
Really quite a film Jan 24, 2010
The Bottom Line:
An "animated documentary" which moves along in a way that most docs don't, Waltz with Bashir concerns itself with different perspectives on Israel's controversial 1982 war with Lebanon and delivers a load of fascinating material in addition to some beautiful images; the Academy may have passed over Folman's impressive film, but that doesn't mean you should.
3.5/4
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