Review of Waltz with Bashir (2008) by Alex K — 02 Aug 2009

A very well made film of the nightmares and dreamscapes surrounding war. The film has a very good style, and very much benefits the film. However, I'm really not a big fan of cel shaded digital animation.

I much prefer either standard cel animation or rotoscope. I believe that the film would have been very much improved utilizing either of these styles. Also, the animation was rather stiff at times. While it does no disservice to the story, it becomes bothers me.

But I will say that the documentary and war aspect of the film are terrific, and are two genres that I feel are ignored in animation. Lastly, the film builds to an unforgettable climax. You sit there, seeing and hearing about these terrible things, but witnessing them behind the protection of animation and cinema.

Then the film does a genius move and pulls away the veil of unreality, showing the actual footage of the massacre all those years ago. As you see the actual footage of the corpse splattered streets, you can't help but feel something profound.

It's not a perfect film, but it's quite good and worthy of being seen by those looking for something different and moving.