One night, over a drink, an old friend tells Ari Folman about a recurring nightmare involving being chased by twenty-six dog. He has the same dream every night, and the two decide that the dream relates to their time in the Israeli Army. Ari’s problem is that although he knows he participated in the war in Lebanon, he has no memory of this. Ari goes on a journey to find people and friends he would have served with to rediscover his lost past...

Waltz With Bashir (2008 - 1 hr, 26 min, 43 sec) is an animated documentary film written and directed by Ari Folman. The film was nominated for an Oscar, went on to win twenty-two awards and was nominated for a further twenty-two. The film was produced by Yael Nahliel, together with Serge Lalou, Gerhard Meixner and Roamn Paul. The animation director was Yoni Gooman, with David Polonsky as art director and illustrator. The soundtrack is a mixture of classical pieces interspersed with eighties tunes. With a few exceptions the people portrayed play themselves, which leads to the sort of vocal rhythms found in normal speech as people pause when thinking what to say next.

The film takes the audience on the same journey that Ali took to rediscover his past and his part in the Sabra and Shatila massacre. The twenty percent of the film is told in Flash animation with the remaining twenty percent being a combination of live footage, classical animation and the blending of animation with real footage.

The film is undoubtedly a powerful piece of work, not so much for the animation, though that works well, especially in the more surreal moments, but much more for the script. The film took four years to make, though the script only took six days. What sets it apart from many other anti-war stories is the unfolding of Ari’s memory. At the start of the film neither Ari nor the audience know what he will discover has been hidden in his missing memories.

This is a journey that is undertaken with no small part of trepidation. In the end you do get the feeling that the film fails to really comment on the Israelis’ participation in the massacre. Not even Ari makes much comment about what he did. The film ends with actual footage of the aftermath, as if no further comment could be as powerful as the image of dead women and children.

The film takes ever decreasing circles around the event as Ari slowly regains his memory. The non-linear nature of the story, and the addition of scenes portraying semi and total hallucinations, means that it is unlikely that the film could have been made conventionally. Animation allows Ari to blend the real and the surreal in his exploration of both memory and his personal experience of war.

The film is presented with an aspect ratio of 1.78. Audio is either 2.0 stereo or 5.1 with optional English subtitles. On the extras front you get the theatrical trailer (1 min, 56 sec) and an interview with Ari (12 min, 49 sec) talking about his experience of making the film. The disc is finished off with a teaser trailer (39 sec) for the film.

Without a doubt the film skips over Israel’s complicity in the massacre, but that’s not really the point of the film. This is a very personal journey into Ari’s past and so is naturally coloured by his own experiences and attitude, with that caveat this is a stunning, moving documentary presented in an unconventional way.

9

Charles Packer