Animated Documentary Captures War Memories as Fever Dreams
Nominated for an Academy Award as Best Foreign Language Film, Waltz With Bashir (2008) played theatrically in the United States in Hebrew with English subtitles. However, on DVD the movie can be watched either that way or dubbed in English. The dubbing is done well, and this is one of the few cases where it's debatable as to whether or not it's best for an English-speaking viewer to watch a foreign film in its original language with subtitles or in a dubbed version.
Waltz With Bashir is a strange documentary in both style and content. In it Israeli filmmaker Ari Folman reconstructs memories, fantasies and hallucinations resulting from wartime experiences of more than two decades earlier. The soundtrack features evocative original instrumental music and rock songs such as "Enola Gay" by OMD, "Good Morning Lebanon" by Navadel Haucaf and a redo of Cake's "I Bombed Korea" titled "Beirut." But it's largely the arresting graphic-novel-style animation that gives the film its nightmarish intensity.
A Stunning Antiwar Statement
The movie is an autobiographical documentary by Ari Folman. He was a 19-year-old infantryman in the Israel Defense Forces when he was sent to fight in the 1982 Lebanon War, but in his early 40s he finds his memories of that period of his life to be hazy. However, he is aware he had some bad experiences, including witnessing the aftermath of the massacre by Lebanese Christian militiamen of Palestinian refugees at Sabra and Shatila. In the film Folman talks to veterans of the war, a journalist who covered it and an expert in psychological trauma. What's unconventional about the documentary is that it shows us harrowing animated realizations of what the interviewees are describing, blurring the boundary between the real and the surreal.
Waltz With Bashir doesn't explain much about Middle Eastern politics, and it's not a journalistic investigation of the Sabra and Shatila massacre. Instead, it's a highly personal, impressionistic meditation on the psychological effects of war on participants.
About the Film's Title
The title Waltz With Bashir is taken from a scene where an Israeli soldier fires a machine gun continuously as he dances across a street dominated by a gigantic picture of Lebanese President Bashir Gemayel. It was the assassination of this leader that ostensibly triggered the Sabra and Shatila massacre. The film's title can also be read as a metaphor for Israel's wartime alliance with Bashir Gemayel's political party, the military arm of which carried out the massacre.
DVD Bonus Materials
The Waltz With Bashir DVD contains a few extras. The best of these is the audio commentary by writer-director Ari Folman, who delivers it in English. The DVD also permits Folman's commentary to be displayed as English subtitles. He covers many technical aspects of the filmmaking, and he reveals where he got some of his ideas. For example, he identifies one scene as being a takeoff on Apocalypse Now. Also, Folman gives his own opinions of the film's subject matter. As to the events at Sabra and Shatila, he cites the investigation by the Kahan Commission, and he expresses the opinion that the big failure of the Israeli leadership was in not doing enough to stop the massacre once they realized it had started.
The DVD also provides video bonus materials with a total runtime of about 37 minutes. One of these is a nine-minute session where Folman responds to various questions about the film. There's also a 12-minute making-of featurette and about 16 minutes of material showing how all the animation was done using drawings painstakingly created from scratch. The animators obviously get unhappy if anyone thinks they used the rotoscope technique.
DVD Details
Below I have listed all the details for the DVD containing Waltz With Bashir.
Release Date: June 23, 2009
Feature Film Runtime: 1 hour 30 minutes
MPAA Rating: R for Some Disturbing Images of Atrocities, Strong Violence, Brief Nudity and a Scene of Graphic Sexual Content
Widescreen (1.78:1), Color
Hebrew 5.1 Dolby Digital
English 5.1 Dolby Digital
English Subtitles
English-Language Audio Commentary by Director Ari Folman
Surreal Soldiers: Making Waltz With Bashir (12 min.)
Q & A With Director Ari Folman (9 min.)
Building the Scenes — Animatics (4 scenes with total runtime = 16 min.)
Theatrical Trailer
