Waltz with Bashir

Waltz with Bashir is an Oscar-nominated animated film from Israel dealing with one man's recollection of the Israeli Army's involvement in the first Lebanon war of the early 1980s. Ari Folman discovers that he has no distinct memories of his involvement in that battle, so he seeks out old friends and comrades to fill in the blanks. A surreal portrait of war, youth, and the Middle East emerges.

This is the second year in a row that Kinsey and I have seen an animated film that involves strife in the Middle East. Last year, it was Persepolis, which deals with a young girl's youth during the Iranian Revolution. There aren't really many similarities between these two films, especially in tone. Persepolis is almost playful at times, while Waltz with Bashir takes a much darker approach.

The one item that seems to come up a lot with this film is whether or not the animation separates the viewer too much from the horrific events taking on screen. Can a war film have an impact on its viewers if it's animated? My answer would be yes and no. There are times when the animation in Waltz with Bashir is very obvious and makes you feel disconnected from what's happening. But its a credit to the filmmaker that this isn't always the case, especially at the end of the film. Not to spoil anything, but the ending does drive you back into reality and makes you reconsider all those animated images that you've seen.

Being a visual person, I was very fascinated by the animation style of this film, especially the separate treatments for character and scene. The characters are animated in a very stylized manner, high contrast with no grayscale shading, very 2D, almost in a comic book fashion. The scenes, meanwhile, are very highly rendered, and if it wasn't for some color choices, could be approaching photo-realism. This contrast in techniques tends to both bring the viewer into the scene yet keep them separate from the characters.

Kinsey and I both appreciated this movie, especially the way that it brought to light certain historical atrocities that we were not aware of. However, I don't think that either of us would ever want to see Waltz with Bashir again. The subject matter is just too depressing.

Kinsey: 4 stars

Wade: 4 stars