Waltz with Bashir

“Waltz with Bashir” was definitely out of the ordinary and separated itself from the usual documentary. Although a bit unusual, the animated documentary, directed by Ari Folman, was unique in that it was a surreal depiction of the guilt, death and shock of war – to the soldiers and of what really happened.

“Waltz with Bashir” is based on a true story of Folman’s life and experiences in the Lebanon War in 1982, a time of violence and conflict when Israel forces invaded southern Lebanon. At a bar, he meets a friend who tells him of the persistent nightmare that comes back to haunt him everyday – an image of 26 menacing dogs. Ari realizes that he does not remember anything during his service in the Israeli Army mission and decides to travel around the world to find the missing pieces of his life and relive his memory.

The selected music was intriguing and eccentric. The film had a variation of songs that included rock and classical music, an unusual mix. There was one particular melody that always played whenever a specific scene appeared – a scene in which the protagonist and his friends are bathing at night in the sea and gradually walk toward the city of Beirut which is burning in flames. This soothing yet somber classical melody signified the only memory that Ari had. It signified the reality that he was probably unable to accept. In the end, he discovered that he and his friends were walking towards the cries and aggression of the massacre of Palestinian civilians in the refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila – a massacre that the soldiers noticed but could do nothing to stop.

The “Waltz with Bashir” was, indeed, a dramatic waltz. A commander of Ari’s unit grabs a heavy machine gun and dances the waltz while simultaneously shooting anywhere possible. Amidst heavy enemy fire, he dances and spins to the classical music playing, blocking out the violence and gunshots, while at the same time dodging bullets in slow motion. As he dances, we see that in the background, there are posters of Bashir Gemayel, the president of Lebanon at the time, hung on the surrounding buildings, making it seem as if he was “waltzing with Bashir”, hence the title. Although it seems unreal for a soldier to actually dance insanely amidst gunfire, the scene was significant in that it told the story of the historical turbulence in the Middle East.

The slideshow of reality presented at the end of the film was heart wrenching. Although disturbing, it symbolized the horror and devastation of war and, at the same time, emphasized what Folman had forgotten in his experience in Lebanon, a memory that will follow him forever. The conclusion of the film was brilliant in that as Folman comes to relive his memory and discovers reality, the cartoon documentary also becomes reality by showing the actual footage of the results of the massacre.