Review of Waltz with Bashir (2008) by Amit M — 13 Dec 2010

I find it quite amusing when people try to find a simplistic moral bow to tie at the end of a story concerning war. We are still so enamored with our childhood heroes like John Wayne who, sporting a green barrette and M-16 rifle, ushers a group of young soldiers onto victory against a perilous foe of savage who appear different to us. At least different from us.

It would be good to note that John Wayne never did fight in any actual battles, nor did he ever enlist in the armed services during WWII, as did the likes of his friend and often times director, John Ford, as well as his one time collaborator, James Stewart (The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance). I am not saying that he is less of a man for not doing so. The author of this essay has never been to war either, nor would I particularly wish to take up such an endeavor. As one who chooses to learn as much as one can from the triumphs and failures of those who have lived full and ambivalent lives before him, I shall trust the once spoken words of wisdom by William Tecumseh Sherman when in a speech noted: "War is hell.".

Indeed it must be hell, or some close facsimile of it in the least. I'm sure that many who have experienced the depths of the eighth wrung of the inferno -- battle -- would agree with the statement above. I know that Ari Folman does.

His documentary film, Waltz With Bashir is an incredible meditation on the horrors of war and what man does to forget about it. In his world, war is so abhorrent to the human psyche that the mind will do amazing acrobatics in order to bury the images and pains which one endures on the battlefield. PTSD, they call it, or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, when the ghosts from our past come creeping back into our awareness through visions and dreams, reminding us that what us buried within our minds does not stay buried forever. For Ari Folman, it was the realization of an atrocity which kept him awake at night. Or at least the understanding that he had, in some way, been affected by it.

You see, a terrible thing had happened to Ari... he had forgotten everything. Memories of his time in the Israeli/Lebanese war during the decade of the 80's had been all but erased from the areas of his brain which allow one to recall images, places, people and time at will. The knowledge of his participation was marred by the lack of understanding as to how deeply he had been involved. Only one image persists: Ari soaking in the ocean of the shores of a fallen city and flares filling in the night sky like embers from a raging pier. What does this mean?

The method of storytelling which the director employs in his search for memories is closely akin to the journey itself as it is all rendered through the skillful fingers of a handful of animation artists. Striking artistic chords once plucked by such great filmmakers as Alain Resnais and Chris Marker, Folman navigates the surreal reaches of the mind with the contrasting dimensions of detail, and its subsequent, and inevitable lack thereof. The beautiful drawn figures, both real and imagined, walk through the story as if in a daze, unable to distinguish the horrible reality of their situation until it is far too late.

Ari Folman creates a war film without heroes, and to a great extent, without villains. He does not focus on battles, although there exists in the film battles fought. Most of the attacks come from distances too great to ascertain race or religion of the assailant. The only time that an attacker is directly seen is when a young Lebanese boy fires a rocket-launcher at a patrolling Israeli tank and is then subsequently shot to death.

Heroism is not common to people. In fact, one might say that it is a defect if one is to assume that the majority lives clean and healthy lives. We as human beings are stuck with fear and panic and cannot fully comprehend the actions which lead to and perpetrate war. Those who venture to understand are often left forever damaged by its black hole nature. For the rest of those affected by its vice-like grip, they simply try placing the pieces of their shattered minds back together.