Review of Waltz with Bashir (2008) by Mark B — 30 Sep 2011

Cartoons are for grown ups. Using animation can allow for greater exploration into the depths of troublesome subjects. Such as, war is hell. Other movies have said the same thing. But with animation we see it as a fever dream, or nightmare. We see image that if live action, would be almost unwatchable, but animation provides a shield, it creates a distance, but somehow resonates without shocking.

Waltz With Bashir is an animated war film. We follow a vet who realizes ge doesn't recall the war at all. No memories. He's gone 20 years without giving it a thought. The movie follows him as he interviews comrades from the war about where he was, to jog his memory. This is a true story from the writer director about his experience in and since the 1983 Israeli Palestinian conflict.

Each persons memory is presented as a flashback, narrated by the storyteller. The waters become less and less muddy. Each characters memory paints a portrait of the war, and broader a representation of the horror of war. Or the ludicrousness of it. Or the fear, barbarism, or flat out idiocy.

The animation is the star of the film. It's very evocative, deeply inked, with the flashbacks bathed in gold. Some of the vistas and shadows are almost real. We see several children and men shot. Animation allows for radical things. This is an animated documentary. Its a genre underutilized.

The film essentially explores genocide. I'm not very familiar with this war, so I have no bias. I just took what the movie presented. Basically the israelis were at war. Once it had been won, there were massacres. Christian militias marched refugees out of camps and gunned down eldeerly, women, and children in cold blood.

The question is how much responsibility does Israel shoulder. Did they know what was going on? Some obviously did. Did they ignore it? Order it? Not realize it? My understanding is blame has still not been assigned fully.

There is murder. Obviously the murderer is guilty. As the man who commanded him to murder. How much guilt does the man with the power to stop it, but chooses apathy, shoulder? Perhaps the most. Certainly some. Unfortunately the MO of civilized nations has basically been to turn a blind eye to it.

But this isn't about the nation, it's about a man. Who feels guilt. Could he have been enabling it. Imagine the guilt. As a Jew whose parents were in Auschwitz. You've taken on the role of nazi.