Waltz With Bashir [movies]  

It's pointless for me to laud Waltz With Bashir in a review. The simple truth is that this movie should honestly be seen by everyone. The documentary is a self-reflection of filmmaker Ari Folman's experiences as a young man in the Israeli army and the events that unfolded in the 1982 Lebanon war and his discussions with fellow soldiers and other involved parties regarding the Sabra and Shatila massacre that resulted in the deaths of thousands of Palestinian civilians. Told completely in flashback, through a combination of CGI and frame-by-frame animation, the story is a stylized mix of stark reality and hazy, hallucinogenic images that weave together in a tapestry of the horrors of war, and the toll it takes on those who fought them.

Beyond the obvious messages, Waltz With Bashir forcefully demonstrates the full power of cinema. There is unquestionable beauty in this film; and whether that results from the animation or the inherent aesthetics of the scenes themselves, it is a pleasurable joy to look at. On top of that, Folman melds in echoes of familiar action movie tropes, which if cut together differently without the gravitas the subject matter requires, would've made this movie something more similar to a twisted studio war flick. But Folman never allows you to fall into a sense that you're watching anything but a documentary, not for a second. And it's with this cognitive dissonance that you approach the movie, that there is something alluring, beautiful, and appealing about this work that focuses on a subject matter that is so difficult to fully digest. And the film challenges you to come to grips with how you enjoy the filmwatching experience, and what you should and do take away from it after the final reel spins. The movie is a constant struggle to watch with the conventions you bring to it, about war movies, documentaries, or film in general.....but the struggle is a necessary one.

The electric power of Waltz With Bashir should be a monument to why movies are important, why they can affect us so deeply, why they are essential to our cultural mindset and development as a society. I'm not trying to say this film is perfect, or that everyone is assured to love it. I'm just saying that everything to love about film is here, from the gorgeous aesthetics to the challenging nature of its structure, to the importance of the message at the core. And that even though this review may tell you nothing specific about the movie, you should see it.