Waltz with Bashir

http://livingincinema.com/2008/05/15/cannes-2008-jour-deux/

Most people go to movies to get away from reality for a few hours, and to immerse themselves in a world of pretense. Waltz with Bashir is a movie made in Israel, and it was included in the Lincoln Center film festival. Film festivals show movies that are different from the average Hollywood film. The idea is that people can see movies that are from various cultures or genres. Waltz with Bashir is an animated documentary.

            The opening scene is a pack of vicious dogs running ferociously for ten minutes. They are terrifying, and keep the viewer wondering what is going on. As the movie continues, it becomes clear that the movie is about a veteran of the first Lebanon war who has lost his memory. He imagines a hallucination of himself and some fellow soldiers emerging from the sea over and over. He is frightened and confused by this, so he begins talking to people about what they can recall about him during the war. Just as the character in the movie is confused, the viewer is confused as it is hard to follow what exactly is happening. At some points in the movie I felt like I was playing a video game. It almost seemed as though I myself was hallucinating, not just the character in the film.

            The director chose to use music that often seemed to contradict the actions taking place.  A waltz is usually a dance associated with calm elegance, not something one would expect to find in a war scene. In Waltz with Bashir, one of the characters “performs a waltz” while dodging a sniper’s bullets. This causes a startling contrast, which makes the movie as provocative as it is.

            I felt that some scenes in the movie were completely unnecessary. For instance, when the main character was interviewing one of the people he knew from the war there was a sex scene on television. This was probably supposed to add some comic relief to an intense plot. However, I found this offensive, and completely unnecessary.

            The entire movie was animated except for one short scene at the end. The director chose to insert real footage of the woman and children crying, as they were led out of the refugee camps of Sabra and Shatilla. It is important that he showed some real images of the story. It gave this animated documentary the validity it needed, to prove that it really was a documentary, and not just a fictional story.

            Waltz with Bashir is definitely not a usual movie. I would not call it an enjoyable one either. However, it is something that is thought-provoking, engaging, and frightening. I have never seen a movie like this before, and I am not sure that I will ever want to. I did learn a lot from seeing this movie, and it is something I will not forget for years to come.