Ari Folman
Waltz With Bashir (Valzer Con Bashir)

THE REVIEW

Historical Note

In the early '80s, the Israeli army invaded Lebanon to expel the PLO leadership residing there. At that time, the country of the cedars was led by Bashir Gemayel, Head of the Phalange, an ultra-Orthodox Christian-Mormon party and militia. Following his assassination attributed to Palestinian terrorists, the Phalangists slaughtered all the males in the Sabra and Chatila refugee camps, apparently with the consent of the Israeli army and its head, then Minister of Defense, Ariel Sharon.

End of Historical Note

Entering the theater, I did not see many people. The poster and the trailer gave the impression of a serious film, and the number of attendees confirmed it.
But it's not always a bad thing not to have anyone sitting next to you, as it allows better reflection and the release of emotions.

The film is set in recent years in Israel, and the protagonist, Ari Folman (hence an autobiographical film...), is a former Jewish soldier now in his fifties who fought in the First Lebanon War. Talking to a former comrade tormented by memories of the conflict, he realizes that he can no longer find the memories for so long unsearched, isolated, now part of the past and forgotten; the only one that remains sees him and 2 of his friends naked in the sea watching the night coast of a deserted city. But he doesn't know where the place is, when it happened, who his friends were...
Thus begins the review of all his former companions, initially to understand this fact, then to build something around this piece of memory surrounded by total darkness. He brings back painful memories for his companions and himself. He reconstructs the expedition to Lebanon, his old friends remember everything and help him. But there is still a dark point. Where was he during the Sabra and Chatila massacre?

At this point, the film changes. From a historical film, it becomes a documentary of denunciation, against the Israeli army and Sharon: how could they allow all this? There are the testimonies, and above all the photographs. The photographs of the bodies. The photos starkly break from the animated style of the film, a style that makes these final images more real, more true, more intense. I won't hide it; tears were shed.

For this film, the animation is spot-on. A "normal" film wouldn't have given the movie such a sense of memory and the incredible. A "normal" film would have made "Waltz with Bashir" a regular war film, without considering the narrative thread. Because we have become accustomed to photos of corpses; and so, before seeing the bodies of Sabra and Chatila, it's necessary to restore the ignorance of the cruelty and death flaunted in the modern world.

On the other hand, the soundtrack is disturbing. From the very first minutes, the oppression is felt, and consequently, death comes like a pack of black dogs. The main motif reminded me of a band and a film. The band is Joy Division, for the dark way the notes follow each other. The film is "Christiane F." for the long notes that follow, low and dark.

Watch this film. In the few hours afterward, it will change your attitude not only towards what you've seen but also towards all the massacres that pass before our eyes and which we no longer care about. The important thing, then, is to maintain this state of mind.