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Ari Folman, Ori Sivan, Roni Dayag, Shmuel Frenkel, Ron Ben Yisahi ... see more see more... , Dror Harazi , Boaz Rein Buskila , Carmi Cna'an , Yehezkel Lazarov

Director Ari Folman's animated, quasi-documentary Waltz With Bashir follows the filmmaker's emotional attempt to decipher the horrors that unfolded one night in September of 1982, when Christian milit... read more read more...ia members massacred more than 3,000 Palestinian refugees in the heart of Beirut as Israeli soldiers surrounded the area. Folman was one of those soldiers, but nearly 20 years after the fact, his memories of that night remain particularly hazy. After hearing an old friend recall a vivid nightmare in which he is pursued by 26 ferocious dogs, Folman and his friend conclude that the dream must somehow relate to that fateful mission during the first Lebanon War. When Folman realizes that his recollections regarding that period in his life seem to have somehow been wiped clean, he travels the world to interview old friends and fellow soldiers from the war. Later, as Folman's memory begins to emerge in a series of surreal images, he begins to uncover a truth about himself that will haunt him for the rest of his days. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

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R, 1 hr. 30 min.

Directed by: Ari Folman

Release Date: May 15, 2008

Keywords: animated

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DVD Release Date: June 23, 2009

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Flixster Reviews (2,844)

  • fb1216165431
    September 10, 2011
    fb1216165431
    Waltz With Bashir is an animated documentary (possibly made out of guilt) that artfully accounts the filmmaker's forgotten, but haunting memory of the 1982 Lebanon War, Sabra and Shatila Massacre. Ugly history presented with irresistible creativity and charm. A strong and powerfu... read morel work that explores the psychological trauma by warfare. The God-awful screams at the end are haunting.
  • YLOWBSTARDreturns
    June 18, 2011
    YLOWBSTARDreturns
    Lavish and innovative animation only strengthen what is a bold and hard hitting document of the atrocities of war and the toll conflict takes on the mindset of those thrust into the middle of it. A gorgeous and powerful work of art.
  • MrMarakai
    April 13, 2011
    MrMarakai
    The Israel & Palestine conflict never makes an easy topic for discussion. It tends to split people, and split quite passionately. This however, doesn't address the politics of the conflict but focuses more on the atrocity and brutality of war.
    On realising he has no memory of se... read morerving in the Israeli Army during the First Lebanon War in 1982, Ari Folman tracks down his old buddies to hear their stories of the conflict, and try to solve the mystery of his own psychological blindspot.
    This is a documentary that's one of the most original of it's kind, thanks in large to it's strikingly powerful artwork. It consists of a serious of investigative interviews with director and war veteran Folman and his comrades who served with him during the conflict and like the stories they relate, the interviews are also included in the animation. Had the interviewing been done without employing the use of animation, this may not have held our interest as much as it does, and helps bind the film into a coherent and visually stunning experience. Having served as an Israeli soldier, Folman wisely doesn't justify his actions. If anything he abhors them. As he pieces the stories together, the revelation of his deep rooted memories are harrowing and no wonder he developed temporary amnesia. He psychologically blocked his memories due to the atrocities and sheer brutality of the massacre - that he witnessed - of Palestinian men, women and children. Despite, the heavy subject matter and the backdrop of war and barbarism, there are still scenes of such power and surreal beauty.
    A gruesome, visually stunning film, that captures an eerie feel throughout and despite being shocking, it carries a very important message. Unlike anything you'll have seen before. Superb!
  • hunterjt13
    November 9, 2010
    hunterjt13
    Before I begin, I must note that this film and, to some degree, this review are not for those who don't know the history of the Lebanon/Israel War of the early '80s. The film expects its audience to know a lot more than most Americans are aware of.
    I'm a little confused about th... read moreis film. Sure: the very idea of an animated documentary is rather confusing, but the inventiveness of the animation - not the quality, which seems jilting, like it was made with those flip books I made in grade school - soon dispelled my confusion at this aspect of the film. Rather, I'm confused about the film's overall point especially in this socio-political climate. The film's central emotion seems to be guilt. The documentarian/main character searches for testimonials to fill in his missing memory about the massacres of Sabra and Shantila, suspecting his involvement. In a key scene, for me, his friend and psychoanalyst claims that he is motivated to conduct this search because his parents were in the concentration camps. And in the course of his investigation, we get war stories that never glorify armed combat - the old "war is hell" thesis. But the film's big reveal is well-known to historians: the Christian Kataeb Party was directly responsible, while the Israelis basically watched the door.
    So here is my confusion: yes, Folman and Israel have some culpability, especially because some Palestinian reports suggest Israelis troops had a more direct role in the massacre than the film suggests, and the film implies this; we even get scenes that lampoon high-ranking Israeli military personnel, and the film states that the Israeli command chain knew about and ignored the massacres in progress. But if the climax of the film reveals the real responsibility rests with the Lebanese, then isn't the film's central point to excuse Israel?
    I don't demand that Waltz with Bashir [sic] reduce complex political realities to overly simplistic, Hollywood cliches, but in light of the blight of the Palestinian people and the horrors that they've had to endure before, during, and after the Lebanese War of the '80s, I would think that the balance would be tipped more toward the Israeli responsibility and less toward the Bachir's influence. The blithe mentions of car bombs and concentration camps do little to exonerate Israeli guilt and more to excuse it.
  • ythelastman89
    April 20, 2010
    ythelastman89
    I want to say that this is the finest line between fiction and reality that there is. Documentaries are never this beautiful and poetic in nature, Ari Folman has created a complete masterpiece. The animation seems to work with no problem and definitely makes the ending even more ... read moreeffective. The dream sequence in the water is so powerful. I really liked the opening sequence with the 26 dogs, just such a unique way of telling a story. You can either see it as a narrative or a non-narrative documentary, both would be correct. The content is extremely moving on top of all the visuals and storytelling, which really gives it the boost into a far more important part of film history. I would love to see more documentaries go this route.
  • bottcorecords1
    December 23, 2009
    bottcorecords1
    The title "Waltz With Bashir" refers to a specific scene in the movie, where a soldier dances in the middle of the street to dodge gunfire, as he fires his machine gun at hidden snipers. Bashir is Bachir Gemayel, the commander of the Lebanese forces who was assassinated just 3 w... read moreeeks after being elected president. It was his assassination that led to the Sabra and Shatila massacre, where the Phalangist party to which Bashir belonged, went into Beirut's Palestinian refugee camps and murdered possibly thousands of people. The Israeli Defense Force, who had been aiding the Lebanese Forces, stood by and let the massacre happen, supposedly with full knowledge of it's taking place. The film "Waltz With Bashir" takes a look at these events through the eyes of a former Israeli soldier, who, now 30 years later, can't seem to recall the events of what took place. He can't seem to recall any of the details of his service in fact, and spends the movie attempting to piece together memories from the recollections of his comrade soldiers. What Persepolis did to show us Iran's cultural revolution from the 70s/80s, Waltz With Bashir does to show us Lebanon in the early 80s, with it's comic book style realistic style that allows you to sometimes forget you're watching a cartoon. What isn't so easy to forget is how closely Waltz With Bashir mirrors our own involvement with countries such as Iraq and Afganistan. Despite this though, there's not much universal appeal to this film, it's Israeli film that appeals primarily to Israelis. I certainly wouldn't call it a bad film, just not one meant for American audiences.
  • RossCollinsUK
    November 25, 2009
    RossCollinsUK
    An animated documentary account of the Israeli intervention of '82 into the Lebanese Civil War in support of the President, Bashir Gemayel. It's both visually and acoustically beautiful with nice 3D effects combined with Max Richter's haunting tracks. Uniquely, by way of its anim... read moreated format, it manages to combine the first person combat scenes of the war movie genre together with the style of TV documentaries like "Death of Yugoslavia" where through interviews with the witnesses and protagonists it provides a lasting record of the tragic events that unfold. It's depressing, it's meant to be, but it's worth a viewing.
  • LorenzoVonMatterhorn
    October 28, 2009
    LorenzoVonMatterhorn
    "Do you ever have flashbacks from Lebanon?"
    "No. No, not really."

    An Israeli film director interviews fellow veterans of the 1982 invasion of Lebanon to reconstruct his own memories of his term of service in that conflict.

    ... read more>REVIEW
    Ari Folman's animated documentary about the role he played in an Israeli massacre of Palestinians during the Lebanese war of the early 1980s. Folman has no recollection of the event, so he embarks on a journey to find other people who he knows were there and who might be able to help him reconstruct his memories. What unfolds is yet one more horrible chapter in the eternal saga of mankind's potential for brutality and hatred.

    "Waltz with Bashir" is a deeply depressing film; Folman doesn't end the movie with any lessons learned, and there's no phony message of hope to serve as a ray of light amid the suffocating gloom. The last few minutes of the film are composed of actual footage of the aftermath of the massacre, and the final image of the film is the corpse of a little boy poking out from a pile of rubble. The entire Lebanese war as depicted by Folman was a study in senseless carnage, as indeed are most wars.

    One might think that animating the film would rob it of some of its visual power, but that's not the case. Folman is able to depict events visually that he wouldn't have been able to do otherwise if he'd had to rely on existing footage, and the result is that the film feels more brutal and disturbing than a more traditional documentary on the same subject probably would.
  • fb619846742
    October 9, 2009
    fb619846742
    A striking dramatic achievement. An original and powerful animation film detailing the horrors of war and how good soldiers can be stripped of their humanity and adopt Nazi practices when it comes to "following orders", and not realizing that they are contributing to a massacre. ... read moreWhile it does lag at times, and it feels longer than 90 minutes, I gave this movie a generous rating because a.) It's a captivating look at a little touched-on subject, and b.) The ending hit me like a train. You won't leave this movie unaffected.
  • SirPant
    October 1, 2009
    SirPant
    A fantastic film with amazing animation. This could have been an interesting documentary but instead, Folman had the insight and the originality to produce what is one of the truly brilliant contemporary films of the last few years. Highly recommended!

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Critic Reviews

Liam Lacey
September 14, 2010
Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail

Persepolis meets Full Metal Jacket in Ari Folman's powerful and original animated war film. Full Review

David Ansen
July 6, 2010
David Ansen, Newsweek

These depictions of the dementia of war have a hallucinatory power that can stand alongside those of Apocalypse Now. Full Review

Mary Corliss
July 6, 2010
Mary Corliss, TIME Magazine

The message of the futility of war has rarely been painted with such bold strokes. Full Review

Leslie Felperin
July 6, 2010
Leslie Felperin, Variety

Special, strange and peculiarly potent. Full Review

Roger Moore
July 16, 2009
Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel

The look of Waltz with Bashir is what is most arresting. It's a deep, multi-plane style of animation that incorporates photo-real settings, realistic renderings of the people and under-animated moveme... Full Review

Tom Long
February 20, 2009
Tom Long, Detroit News

A wholly original and emotionally devastating animated documentary confessional. Full Review

Andrea Gronvall
February 20, 2009
Andrea Gronvall, Chicago Reader

Animation may be the ideal medium for replicating dreams, and in this unsettling feature by Ari Folman it also proves well suited to autobiography. Full Review

Lisa Kennedy
February 6, 2009
Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post

It is powerful because this work of art also provides such a cautionary tale about the psychic burdens young soldiers carry deep inside them decades after they've laid down their weapons. Full Review

Rafer Guzman
February 5, 2009
Rafer Guzman, Newsday

A brave, personal and truly original piece of filmmaking. Full Review

Colin Covert
January 30, 2009
Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune

If you expect documentaries to be dry doctoral dissertations with talking heads and archival film footage, prepare to be electrified. Full Review

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