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Waltz with Bashir

Vals Im Bashir

Israel, United States, France, Finland, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, Australia

2008

87 Min

Color

1.85:1

Hebrew, English, Arabic, German

Currently 4.0/5 Stars.
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PROD Ari Folman, Serge Lalou, Gerhard Meixner, Yael Nahlieli, Roman Paul

CAST Ari Folman, Dror Harazi, Ori Sivan, Zahava Solomon, Shahar Sorek, Ron Ben-Yishai, Ronny Dayag, Gadi Erel, Yehezkel Lazarov, Mickey Leon

MUSIC Max Richter

Cannes (In Competition), Toronto (Special Presentation), Telluride, London (Gala), São Paulo, AFI FEST (World Cinema), New York

Synopsis

One night at a bar, an old friend tells director Ari Folman about a recurring nightmare in which he is chased by 26 vicious dogs. The two men conclude that there’s a connection to their Israeli Army mission in the first Lebanon War of the early eighties. Ari is surprised that he can’t remember a thing anymore about that period of his life. Intrigued by this riddle, he decides to meet and interview old friends and comrades around the world. He needs to discover the truth about that time and about himself.

Director

Ari Folman

Ari Folman (Hebrew: ארי פולמן) (born December 17, 1962) is an Israeli film director, screenwriter and film score composer. Ari Folman was born in Haifa to Holocaust survivors. His wife is also a film director. They live in Tel Aviv. Ari Folman’s memories of the aftermath of the 1982 Sabra and Shatila massacre which took place when he was a 19-year old soldier, served as the basis for his movie Waltz with Bashir. The film follows his attempt to regain his memories of the war through therapy as well as conversations with old friends and other Israelis that were present in Beirut around the time of the massacre. —Wikipedia

Wall

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Cruth A Bháis

23May12

And in the end, I cried.

Chaz

4May12

Incredible; an honest probing into the crucial issue of Israeli military culpability, in the 1982 Sabra and Shatila massacre and in general, with searing insight into the nature of trauma and memory.

Molly Epstein

1May12

I am still raving to people about this film days later. The animation is spectacular in all of it's minimalist glory and the narrative is devastating and disturbing, but just warm enough to keep the audience invested. One of my recent top picks.

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junixu

28Feb12

This film does more than provide an accurate representation of traumatic experiences. It taps into the unconscious, appropriately leaves blanks for the mind to fill in, and makes clever use of devices to alternate between enveloping the viewer and displacing the viewer (as the soldiers supposedly had felt). A stunning example of animation that feels more real than even amateur live footage of war.

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Articles

Our roundup of essays and articles on this film.

The Auteurs Daily: Venice, Toronto and NYFF. Lebanon

By David Hudson on September 9, 2009

"Visceral, torn-from-the-memory filmmaking that packs every punch except one to the heart, Lebanon is the boldest and best of

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WALTZ WITH BASHIR Review

By Twitchfilm.com on May 17, 2011

[Our thanks to regular reader Agent Wax for sending in the following review from the Singapore Animation Nation Festival.]In many ways, this is the hardest review I’ve ever sat down and committed myself

→ read on Twitchfilm.com

WALTZ WITH BASHIR Review

By Twitchfilm.com on May 17, 2011

[This review originally appeared as part of my TIFF coverage over at Showcase. It seems appropriate to reprint it here with the regular theatrical release about to kick off.] At first glance the idea of

→ read on Twitchfilm.com