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Review: Waltz with Bashir (ואלס עם באשיר) (2008)
This movie started off serious, and it became more and more serious. I did appreciate what this movie delivered though. I would describe it as an animated documentary. The structure and story telling of the film was that of a documentary, but it was all drawn instead.
I would recommend it for those who want to see another side of war, to see how war effects humans in more subtle ways. Obviously, this is not the happiest movie, so I'd only recommend it for those who are specifically looking for that kind of content and understanding.
Spoilers.
Story
This film was based on the real life experiences of the filmmaker, Ari Folman. He was unable to recall anything about his experiences in the Sabra and Shatila massacre, and tried to reach out to friends and other experts to find out what happened.
Throughout the film, we hear about the other people's experiences in the war. During the movie, I felt like I was watching an "anthology" of war stories. The thing is, these stories felt very personal. They did not involve political views, just personal accounts of what had happened and how they had felt.
In the end, Ari remembered his role during the Sabra and Shatila massacre. He was responsible for firing flares that would provide light to the soldiers who were carrying out the attacks. It was hypothesized that he'd felt guilty for his role in the attack, and his guilt has caused him to block out these memories.
The film ended with real footage of the aftermath of the attack, the only part of the movie that was not animated.
Production
Animation
The animation was drawn in a way that was very 2D. However, the use of camera angles gave these flat pictures some depth. This was the case when the camera rotated around certain people or objects.
Voices
For some of the interviewees in the film, I think that Ari Folman probably used the actual interview footage as the basis for the animation. This made sense since Folman was looking for a documentary style rather than a dramatized style.
It was interesting hearing the people recount their experiences, with their own voices, natural pauses, etc. I really felt like I could hear the interviewees thinking about how to articulate what they'd been through.
The calmness of the voices was also a bit startling, but I think it was either a coping mechanism, or that enough time had passed so that the interviewees had to time reflect and accept what had happened to them.
For the people who were voiced by actors, I didn't feel that they stuck out at all. Actually, I was surprised that any of them were voiced by actors because they all voiced their roles in a way that was consistent across all interviewees.
Music
It surprised me that Max Richter was responsible for the music, as I always associated him with drama films. The music in this movie was pretty simple, since this was a documentary and not a dramatization.
There was some piano music that was used as background music for flashbacks. This included both flashbacks of soldiers visiting home, and flashbacks of soldiers in action. However, I think that the use of similar background music was meant to express that to the soldiers, all of these experiences reminded them of their time in the war, and thus were grouped together in their minds.
People
Ari Folman
He was the filmmaker and the "main character" of the movie. He was trying to recover his memories of the Sabra and Shatila massacre. Despite that, however, he felt like a side character in this documentary, because he was also the interviewer in many instances.
In one of his last conversations, he discussed recovering his memory with Ori. He insisted that it didn't matter that he was only in the second or third circle (around the massacre). In his mind, he was complicit. I think this discussion was very important. While Ari didn't actively kill anyone, he was complicit in murder. I'm sure there are some people who would insist that he was in the clear, but there are many people who have such "assisting" roles in heinous crimes, and cannot forgive themselves for what they've done.
I don't think that whether Ari forgave himself is supposed to be a main topic in this story. Rather, it's just a matter of knowing and accepting. He didn't know and therefore couldn't accept what he'd done. But now he knows, and he can only accept his role.
Boaz Rein-Buskila
Boaz was the friend in the beginning of the movie who had the recurring dream of 26 dogs coming to attack him. During his time on duty, he couldn't bring himself to kill people, so he was tasked with killing the dogs, who would normaly alert the villagers to outside dangers.
For Boaz, the dogs are a symbol of his complicit nature in the attacks that he particated in.
Ori Sivan
Ori was a friend of Ari's, and was someone to whom Ari could talk out his feelings.
Carmi Can'an
Ari's only "memory" of the Sabra and Shatila massacre was the image of him on a beach with Carmi and another man. Thus, Ari went to the Netherlands to visit Carmi.
Carmi recounted the first time he was on duty. He was partying on a boat with his comrades but fell asleep. He dreamed that he was taken away from the boat by an unknown woman/spirit, and he watched his boat be attacked. He later woke up, and starting shooting at a car on the beach. It was revealed to be a family.
When Ari first visited Carmi, Carmi said he could draw him and his son, but not film them. I wonder if this was the reason that Ari decided to move to animation instead of filming to make his movie.
I think Carmi was a few steps ahead of Ari in that he knew what he'd done during the war, and he'd come to terms with that. Obviously, him shooting randomly at others was not the right thing to do, but he had done it.
Ronny Dayag
Ronny recounted his story to Ari. He had arrived to a beach in a tank along with his fellow soldiers. His tank was attacked and the rest of his comrades were killed, but he survived. He then swam all the way across the sea back, where he met the team from the other tank.
Although Ronny was the one who was deserted, he felt that he was the deserter because he hadn't died along with the rest of his team. I think this was a form of survivor's guilt.
In particular, Ronny's story about swimming in the sea left an impact on me. The only thing that I took away from it was just how tired he was. Honestly, in that moment, I think that the exhaustion was probably the only thing that he could even possibly think of.
Shmuel Frenkel
He had been with Ari since the time they were in training. Shmuel recounted a story of how he wanted to cross a street that was under fire, but he was carrying a gun that he wasn't used to. He asked his teammate to use his gun but his teammate refused. He wrestled the gun from his teammate and ran out into the street. Rather than crossing it, however, he ended up "dancing." The movie actually showed him dancing in a ballroom-like manner to a song that was implied to be a waltz. So this is where the name of the movie comes from, "Waltz with Bashir."
Ron Ben-Yishai
Ron was a reporter who'd covered the massacre. He recounted how he saw a little girl in a pile of rubble that reminded him of his own daughter.
Despite being a reporter, whose job was to deliver factual news in a summarized format, there was no way that Ron could conduct his research without going into the human aspect of it. After all, this massacre was a crime against humans, and so it was impossible to take the human aspects out of it.
Dror Harazi
During the war, I believe it was Dror who had heard from other soldiers that they'd seen people being massacred. He reported it to a minister who dismissed him. Obviously, this was pretty freaky to hear.
Themes
Military Training
When Carmi had arrived on the beach, the first thing to do was to shoot. He and his fellow soldiers didn't know what they were shooting at. They were just shooting. Similarly, in another story, soldiers in a tank were shooting at all directions in the middle of the night. It didn't really matter what they were shooting at, just that they were shooting.
The soldiers in this story had an "attack first" attitude. This was probably instilled in them during training, but it of course is a very rash way of acting in a situation where you are literally holding a murder machine.
Dreams
Both Ari and Boaz had dreams that reminded them of their time in the war. For both these people, they knew what these dreams were. And they also probably knew why they were having these dreams. To some extent, I think it was their subconscious guilt bringing these events to light.
In both cases, I think dreams were a subconcious message to the dreamers that there was unfinished businesses they needed to handle with head on, or else it would continue to haunt them.
Memories
Ori mentioned the concept of false memories. At first, I think it was to help Ari realize that maybe his vision on the beach wasn't entirely accurate.
I think it also relates to the end, when Ari remembers his role in the war. To Ari, his role of firing the flares was just as evil as doing the actual killing, whereas a third party might not think them to be equal.
Viewing on the outside
During the movie, the story of a photographer was brought up. The photographer handled the war by viewing it like a movie through his camera lens. The atrocity only really hit him when his camera broke. This was definitely a coping mechanism, but in the case of the photographer, he needed to do this in order to move ahead.
In Shmuel's story, he and the soldiers were fighting enemy fire, but people were hanging out in their balconies watching the gunfire as if it was just entertainment. Again, I think these people had to treat the war like entertainment or else the fear and horror would ruin them.
On the outside, this seems like an insensitive way to view war, but I think it's really a coping mechanism that arises due to necessity. Those people on the balconies know better than anybody the horror of what's going on in their home. However, is it realistic to just hide inside all day? Perhaps not.
Guilt
Ari subconsciously felt guilty for firing the flares and helping the attackers in the Sabra and Shatila massacre. When compared to those actually carrying out the killings, this is not as evil, but where do you draw the line?
This is one of those topics that could take all day to discuss, and I don't think we have enough in the movie to stretch out this discussion, but it nonetheless is very important because guilt is the reason that Ari could not remember his memories. It is also probably the reason that Boaz started having his nightmares.
There is always the argument that soldiers on the attacking side always had a choice in whether to hurt or not. But that is a very gray debate. Especially when it comes to those like Ari who were very young when they participated in the war. They haven't had enough time to understand their own place in the world and yet they have to fight someone else's war, putting their life on the line. Sometimes they're led to believe they are doing the right thing, but when they grow up and have time to reflect, they may come to regret their actions.
Lack of politics
I thought it was interesting that there was very little "summarization" of what was going on. I didn't really have any background knowledge on the circumstances of this massacre. The only information that the audience was provided with was that there was a massacre and Ari was part of it.
Over the course of the movie, we learned about Bashir and that he'd died before the massacre, but it never became that big of a topic.
I think this was to keep the film focused on people and their personal experiences. Politics was only delivered to give audience members some background information on who was who. But the movie didn't even bring up the conflict between Israel and Palestine because it's hard to relate to such a big conflict when you just want to talk about individuals.
Sea
Carmi and Ronny's stories took place in the sea. Carmi had fallen asleep on the love boat, and Ronny had swam to safety after his team died. I found that all things considered, the interviewees' experiences in the sea were rather calm, and gave them time to reflect.
For Carmi, he was actually afraid, and had fallen asleep because that was his coping mechanism for fear. He'd dreamed that a woman would take him away as his boat was destroyed. Then, when he woke up, he was thrown right into action. I felt that the sea was a bit of peace and relief for him, knowing that he was about to see some terrible things.
As for Ronny, he said that the sea was rather calm, so it wasn't too scary swimming across. It was also his passage to safety.
Overall
I thought this animated documentary was a very interesting way of delivering information to the audiences. In addition, its focus on people and their personal stories made these historical events easier to comprehend and grasp. While I wouldn't watch this movie again (because of the gravity of the content), I still appreciated what I learned from it.
I would recommend it for those who want to see another side of war, to see how war effects humans in more subtle ways. Obviously, this is not the happiest movie, so I'd only recommend it for those who are specifically looking for that kind of content and understanding.
Spoilers.
Story
This film was based on the real life experiences of the filmmaker, Ari Folman. He was unable to recall anything about his experiences in the Sabra and Shatila massacre, and tried to reach out to friends and other experts to find out what happened.
Throughout the film, we hear about the other people's experiences in the war. During the movie, I felt like I was watching an "anthology" of war stories. The thing is, these stories felt very personal. They did not involve political views, just personal accounts of what had happened and how they had felt.
In the end, Ari remembered his role during the Sabra and Shatila massacre. He was responsible for firing flares that would provide light to the soldiers who were carrying out the attacks. It was hypothesized that he'd felt guilty for his role in the attack, and his guilt has caused him to block out these memories.
The film ended with real footage of the aftermath of the attack, the only part of the movie that was not animated.
Production
Animation
The animation was drawn in a way that was very 2D. However, the use of camera angles gave these flat pictures some depth. This was the case when the camera rotated around certain people or objects.
Voices
For some of the interviewees in the film, I think that Ari Folman probably used the actual interview footage as the basis for the animation. This made sense since Folman was looking for a documentary style rather than a dramatized style.
It was interesting hearing the people recount their experiences, with their own voices, natural pauses, etc. I really felt like I could hear the interviewees thinking about how to articulate what they'd been through.
The calmness of the voices was also a bit startling, but I think it was either a coping mechanism, or that enough time had passed so that the interviewees had to time reflect and accept what had happened to them.
For the people who were voiced by actors, I didn't feel that they stuck out at all. Actually, I was surprised that any of them were voiced by actors because they all voiced their roles in a way that was consistent across all interviewees.
Music
It surprised me that Max Richter was responsible for the music, as I always associated him with drama films. The music in this movie was pretty simple, since this was a documentary and not a dramatization.
There was some piano music that was used as background music for flashbacks. This included both flashbacks of soldiers visiting home, and flashbacks of soldiers in action. However, I think that the use of similar background music was meant to express that to the soldiers, all of these experiences reminded them of their time in the war, and thus were grouped together in their minds.
People
Ari Folman
He was the filmmaker and the "main character" of the movie. He was trying to recover his memories of the Sabra and Shatila massacre. Despite that, however, he felt like a side character in this documentary, because he was also the interviewer in many instances.
In one of his last conversations, he discussed recovering his memory with Ori. He insisted that it didn't matter that he was only in the second or third circle (around the massacre). In his mind, he was complicit. I think this discussion was very important. While Ari didn't actively kill anyone, he was complicit in murder. I'm sure there are some people who would insist that he was in the clear, but there are many people who have such "assisting" roles in heinous crimes, and cannot forgive themselves for what they've done.
I don't think that whether Ari forgave himself is supposed to be a main topic in this story. Rather, it's just a matter of knowing and accepting. He didn't know and therefore couldn't accept what he'd done. But now he knows, and he can only accept his role.
Boaz Rein-Buskila
Boaz was the friend in the beginning of the movie who had the recurring dream of 26 dogs coming to attack him. During his time on duty, he couldn't bring himself to kill people, so he was tasked with killing the dogs, who would normaly alert the villagers to outside dangers.
For Boaz, the dogs are a symbol of his complicit nature in the attacks that he particated in.
Ori Sivan
Ori was a friend of Ari's, and was someone to whom Ari could talk out his feelings.
Carmi Can'an
Ari's only "memory" of the Sabra and Shatila massacre was the image of him on a beach with Carmi and another man. Thus, Ari went to the Netherlands to visit Carmi.
Carmi recounted the first time he was on duty. He was partying on a boat with his comrades but fell asleep. He dreamed that he was taken away from the boat by an unknown woman/spirit, and he watched his boat be attacked. He later woke up, and starting shooting at a car on the beach. It was revealed to be a family.
When Ari first visited Carmi, Carmi said he could draw him and his son, but not film them. I wonder if this was the reason that Ari decided to move to animation instead of filming to make his movie.
I think Carmi was a few steps ahead of Ari in that he knew what he'd done during the war, and he'd come to terms with that. Obviously, him shooting randomly at others was not the right thing to do, but he had done it.
Ronny Dayag
Ronny recounted his story to Ari. He had arrived to a beach in a tank along with his fellow soldiers. His tank was attacked and the rest of his comrades were killed, but he survived. He then swam all the way across the sea back, where he met the team from the other tank.
Although Ronny was the one who was deserted, he felt that he was the deserter because he hadn't died along with the rest of his team. I think this was a form of survivor's guilt.
In particular, Ronny's story about swimming in the sea left an impact on me. The only thing that I took away from it was just how tired he was. Honestly, in that moment, I think that the exhaustion was probably the only thing that he could even possibly think of.
Shmuel Frenkel
He had been with Ari since the time they were in training. Shmuel recounted a story of how he wanted to cross a street that was under fire, but he was carrying a gun that he wasn't used to. He asked his teammate to use his gun but his teammate refused. He wrestled the gun from his teammate and ran out into the street. Rather than crossing it, however, he ended up "dancing." The movie actually showed him dancing in a ballroom-like manner to a song that was implied to be a waltz. So this is where the name of the movie comes from, "Waltz with Bashir."
Ron Ben-Yishai
Ron was a reporter who'd covered the massacre. He recounted how he saw a little girl in a pile of rubble that reminded him of his own daughter.
Despite being a reporter, whose job was to deliver factual news in a summarized format, there was no way that Ron could conduct his research without going into the human aspect of it. After all, this massacre was a crime against humans, and so it was impossible to take the human aspects out of it.
Dror Harazi
During the war, I believe it was Dror who had heard from other soldiers that they'd seen people being massacred. He reported it to a minister who dismissed him. Obviously, this was pretty freaky to hear.
Themes
Military Training
When Carmi had arrived on the beach, the first thing to do was to shoot. He and his fellow soldiers didn't know what they were shooting at. They were just shooting. Similarly, in another story, soldiers in a tank were shooting at all directions in the middle of the night. It didn't really matter what they were shooting at, just that they were shooting.
The soldiers in this story had an "attack first" attitude. This was probably instilled in them during training, but it of course is a very rash way of acting in a situation where you are literally holding a murder machine.
Dreams
Both Ari and Boaz had dreams that reminded them of their time in the war. For both these people, they knew what these dreams were. And they also probably knew why they were having these dreams. To some extent, I think it was their subconscious guilt bringing these events to light.
In both cases, I think dreams were a subconcious message to the dreamers that there was unfinished businesses they needed to handle with head on, or else it would continue to haunt them.
Memories
Ori mentioned the concept of false memories. At first, I think it was to help Ari realize that maybe his vision on the beach wasn't entirely accurate.
I think it also relates to the end, when Ari remembers his role in the war. To Ari, his role of firing the flares was just as evil as doing the actual killing, whereas a third party might not think them to be equal.
Viewing on the outside
During the movie, the story of a photographer was brought up. The photographer handled the war by viewing it like a movie through his camera lens. The atrocity only really hit him when his camera broke. This was definitely a coping mechanism, but in the case of the photographer, he needed to do this in order to move ahead.
In Shmuel's story, he and the soldiers were fighting enemy fire, but people were hanging out in their balconies watching the gunfire as if it was just entertainment. Again, I think these people had to treat the war like entertainment or else the fear and horror would ruin them.
On the outside, this seems like an insensitive way to view war, but I think it's really a coping mechanism that arises due to necessity. Those people on the balconies know better than anybody the horror of what's going on in their home. However, is it realistic to just hide inside all day? Perhaps not.
Guilt
Ari subconsciously felt guilty for firing the flares and helping the attackers in the Sabra and Shatila massacre. When compared to those actually carrying out the killings, this is not as evil, but where do you draw the line?
This is one of those topics that could take all day to discuss, and I don't think we have enough in the movie to stretch out this discussion, but it nonetheless is very important because guilt is the reason that Ari could not remember his memories. It is also probably the reason that Boaz started having his nightmares.
There is always the argument that soldiers on the attacking side always had a choice in whether to hurt or not. But that is a very gray debate. Especially when it comes to those like Ari who were very young when they participated in the war. They haven't had enough time to understand their own place in the world and yet they have to fight someone else's war, putting their life on the line. Sometimes they're led to believe they are doing the right thing, but when they grow up and have time to reflect, they may come to regret their actions.
Lack of politics
I thought it was interesting that there was very little "summarization" of what was going on. I didn't really have any background knowledge on the circumstances of this massacre. The only information that the audience was provided with was that there was a massacre and Ari was part of it.
Over the course of the movie, we learned about Bashir and that he'd died before the massacre, but it never became that big of a topic.
I think this was to keep the film focused on people and their personal experiences. Politics was only delivered to give audience members some background information on who was who. But the movie didn't even bring up the conflict between Israel and Palestine because it's hard to relate to such a big conflict when you just want to talk about individuals.
Sea
Carmi and Ronny's stories took place in the sea. Carmi had fallen asleep on the love boat, and Ronny had swam to safety after his team died. I found that all things considered, the interviewees' experiences in the sea were rather calm, and gave them time to reflect.
For Carmi, he was actually afraid, and had fallen asleep because that was his coping mechanism for fear. He'd dreamed that a woman would take him away as his boat was destroyed. Then, when he woke up, he was thrown right into action. I felt that the sea was a bit of peace and relief for him, knowing that he was about to see some terrible things.
As for Ronny, he said that the sea was rather calm, so it wasn't too scary swimming across. It was also his passage to safety.
Overall
I thought this animated documentary was a very interesting way of delivering information to the audiences. In addition, its focus on people and their personal stories made these historical events easier to comprehend and grasp. While I wouldn't watch this movie again (because of the gravity of the content), I still appreciated what I learned from it.