Waltz With Bashir (2008)
Waltz With Bashir (ISR) Directed by Ari Folman
First off, Waltz With Bashir, is an important piece of film-making not because it is an animated documentary and thus stands on the vanguard in terms of its form, and not because the film itself illuminates a tragic set of events within the broader spectrum of the conflict in the Middle East, as well as the nature of war in general; rather, because the film was directed by an Israeli (Ari Folman), and produced with Israeli funds, and might be a sign (however feint) that at some point there may be a chance for peace.
Of the eight to ten main interview subjects depicted in the film (the nominal protagonist is Folman as his twenty year old self and then years later as someone searching for answers about his past) all but two are direct animated representations, and all of their actual words were used in the recounting of their individual memories and stories. Although Folman speaks to a few experts about memory and the psychological effects of trauma, there is no real investigation of anyone beyond his basic purview, so one should not go into the film expecting a balanced portrait of historical events. This exploration is all about one man’s experience illuminated through the prism of others of the same ethnicity, and is not intended as an all-encompassing story of these events, or a polemic of any kind.
The idea that sets the film in motion is that Folman cannot remember his degree of participation in the atrocious 1982 Sabra and Shatila massacres during the war in Lebanon where an estimated 200-3,000 Palestinians (many of them women and children) were lined up and shot dead. Folman is haunted by dreams involving water, and his participation in the war itself, and so he reaches back into his past to speak with those with whom he served, as well as others who were in the Israeli army at the time, to try to piece together the events surrounding the massacres.
The film is well done technically. If the animation does not achieve the graphic superiority of some of the recent Pixar offerings, Folman’s color choices of muted blacks and browns certainly creates a bereft, muddied world that seems fitting in a film about the vagaries of memory. The frames were individually painted, a process that reportedly took four years to complete, and the overall effect favorably resembles something the great Ralph Bakshi might have dreamed up.
Waltz With Bashirexpertly delves into ideas about memory as it connects to traumatic events by showing us recreations of the dreams and recollections of participants scarred by their past. Many of those he speaks with report still having dreams about their experiences twenty-five years later. One ex-soldier, who was known not to want to kill anyone, recounts being ordered to shoot some thirty dogs in order to prevent them from barking. Another describes nearly being killed in a tank ambush, but managing an escape that included miles of swimming in the ocean, and then feeling guilty because he was the lone survivor in his unit, as if by living he had dishonored his fallen comrades. Folman seems committed to dispelling the notion of the heroic war or warrior, the idea being that all conflicts extract a heavy price from all involved, and that the entire undertaking is devoid of the kind of poetic bravery that has been attached to it.
The politics involved in Middle Eastern conflicts are beyond complicated, but it should be noted that Palestinians were in Lebanon in the first place due to the establishment of the Israeli State in 1948, and while these were not the only atrocities committed in the Middle East (some were carried out by the PLO), and technically the Israelis were not the ones who pulled the trigger (200 Christian Phalanges did), they were in charge of the camps themselves, and actually physically transported the Phalanges into the camps. As the documentary states, Israeli leaders, including Ariel Sharon, knew what was going on and chose to do nothing.
There is an unavoidable question that crops up in considering this film, and that is, how much responsibility does Folman have to tell a factually accurate, balanced story of the events he is concerned with? Certainly, there is no discussion with any Christian Phalangist, or Palestinian families directly effected by the massacres. Beyond those answering technical questions having to do with dreams and memory, there is, in fact, no perspective provided by anyone outside of the Israeli soldiers Folman speaks with. In this age of “creative non-fiction” with recreations being the norm, and grandstanding filmmakers (Michael Moore et al) staging agit-prop set/performances pieces to dramatize their agendas, where does the use of animation fit into this broader interpretation of what constitutes documentary? Is the format, and the use of the device of “lost” or fuzzy memory, a way to further distance the viewer from the brutal realities of the actual events, and potentially Israel’s (and by extension, Folman’s) culpability in them, or is the methodology a valid and creative way of exploring said events, one that provides an entry into the subject matter, and potentially addresses broader/universal questions?
Whether Folman should be viewed as an apologist for not being more forthright (or at least factually specific) in his depiction of events as they actually occurred, or as a hero for more fully exposing a shameful smudge on the history of his home country, is a question that will be answered by the film’s collective audience. There seems little doubt, however, that Folman’s message is that war itself is a horrific experience that leaves its participants with psychological baggage they carry for the rest of their lives. This seems the most human of perspectives, and it is delivered in a heartfelt manner imbued with deep conviction, bolstered by the benefit of firsthand experience. Perhaps too the format he employs to tell the story is, in a way, a comment on the nature of “truth” itself, and how malleable a concept that is.
At the end of the film Folman chooses to show actual footage of screaming Palestinian women whose families were slaughtered in the massacres. It is in sharp contrast to the animation we have been watching, and the pain and utter devastation expressed in their shrieks of utter despair and horror are a testament to the devastating reality of the history, and ultimately to Folman’s dedication to truth.