Realities of War

Nov 19 2008 Pierce Hunt, Surrey Herald

Waltz with Bashir

Director Ari Folman takes you on a harrowing journey into the uncomfortable depths of his subconscious, gradually reliving the nightmare of the first Lebanon War with this year's most astonishing animation.

When meeting an old comrade in a bar, Ari is told about a recurring dream his friend is having about being chased by 26 bloodthirsty dogs. After he admits that he was too afraid to shoot at the enemy during the first Lebanon War, his commanding officer made him responsible for shooting any yelping canines when ambushing sleeping villages at night.

Ari, on the other hand, doesn't feel anything. He can't remember a thing about his time serving in the Israeli army, which not only makes him feel numb, but also sees him determined to seek out old friends to jog his memory about what he experienced during his time served.

As he encounters numerous old allies, the memories of the true horror of war begin to come flooding back. Having repressed any memory of his time spent during the conflict in the early 80s, Ari unravels a bloody mess of a story, painting a jaw droppingly spectacular array of visuals, which are anchored with frequent instances of utter despair.

There is a healthy balance of realism and surrealism within the animation process. When Ari interviews subjects, painstaking efforts to detail are made to highlight the difficulty the men have in telling their story about the terrible things they've witnessed. This is then counterbalanced by the vivid, surreal images created by their recollections.

Some scenes of warfare are distressing, but none more so than the Sabra and Shatila massacres. The scenes of Christian Phalangist militiamen executing Palestinian refugees are gut-wrenching.

And the one question on all the Israeli soldiers lips is 'Why were we sent there?'. Ari Folman makes it abundantly clear that the Christian Phalangist militiamen were fully responsible, and the Israeli soldiers had nothing to do with the melée.

These disturbing scenes make it clear as to why so many Israeli soldiers had blocked out the whole sordid affair.

What Waltz with Bashir does brilliantly is dispel the Hollywood myth that war is glamorous. The film's humble approach to telling the story from a common soldier's point of view is a remarkable feat, even if it brings the brutality of war too close to home for some.

Far from being sugar-coated, Waltz with Bashir is a brutally honest, must-see work of art.

10/10