The human brain is a fascinating thing. Capable of retaining millions of bits of information, but also of blocking out anything too awful to remembered. Kinda like how I've blocked out the first episode of this season's Lost. It just didn't happen and the season must really start this week. It was just too awful to have really existed. The animated documentary Waltz with Bashir deals with Ari Folman, who's experiences during his time serving in the army during the Lebanon War were so horrific that his brain simply shunted them from his memory.
In 1982, Ari met with an old army friend, who recounted a nightmare he's been having for years related to his time during the war. The dream is of 26 rabid, seethings pit bulls racing through a busy street, terrifying the people. They are clearly hunting someone. They eventually stop and gather in front of the man's house, waiting paitently to kill him as he watches from a few floors up. The sequence is quick, visceral, and would cause me to wake up in a cold sweat if presented in this fashion. Ari discovers through this conversation that he has no memory of the same period. Later that night, Ari has a vivid vision of the night of the Sabra and Shatila Massacre. Ari then sets out to find people who served with him, and hopefully piece together the holes in his memory, and maybe discover what his role was during this awful time in history.
Bashir uses an animated technique not quite like rotoscoping, but more like flash animation combined with classic cartoons. The look is unlike any other film I've seen. This is not a happy film, with grim images of war's lethal consequences, particularly the parts dealing with the massacre in which thousands of people were wantonly executed on the city streets. Normally, animation for this type of film serves to keep the viewer sortof at arm's length from the brutal reality of the situation. The style allows the filmmaker to exaggerate some of the key moments, but instead of pushing me away it only served to make me imagine just how the reality must've been. The film gets it's name from a fantastic sequence in which one of Ari's squadmates literally dances in the street avoiding gunfire while simulataneously trying to hit a hidden sniper. I could't help but wonder what that must've looked like to the people watching him.
Waltz with Bashir is a must-see film. It's not perfect. It lags a little bit at times, and some of the conversations last perhaps a minute or two too long. However it's impossible to not get swept up in this man's search to figuratively find himself and his place in his country's history. They wisely decide not to focous on the reasons the war was taking place. To do so would've pushed Ari's story to the background, and it's more than amazing enough to hold up on it's own.
7/10
