Think animation movie and we usually form images of Shrek, Kung Fu Panda and maybe Wall-E in our head. But there is a school of filmmakers that use animation as a medium to depict darker themes – it provides a distinctive visual experience compared to the regular celluloid. And I am not talking about graphic novels like 300 or Sin City – you need big money bankrolling animation studios for those.
Instead Ari Folman directs a partly autobiographical movie documentary about his efforts to exorcise the demons of his military past – Ari Folman fought for Israel in the Israel-Lebanon war of 1982. A war, which among other things, is principally remembered for the Shatila massacre in Beirut. It was a massacre of Palestinian refugees by right-wing Christian Lebanese militia to avenge the murder of their leader and President-elect Bashir Gemayel, while the occupying Israeli army turned a blind eye.
Folman was there, right outside of the Shatila refugee camp – and yet he cant remember any details about it - nor anything about the war itself. And so he sets out to talk to people who were with him in the war – to discuss what they remember, and hopefully help him find his own memories. And the entire movie is a delectable mixture of Ari Folman’s conversations with his ex-comrades, lawyer friend, psychologist etc and the flashbacks of actual events in 1982. All rendered in a graphic style, which is light as well as disturbing, in parts.
Particularly cringe-worthy is the scene with the dying horses – we people have become immune to seeing people die onscreen – even if its gruesome. Yet it was the death of these animals that becomes too much to bear – even animated horses. Ari Folman deftly shows through his canvas, how little sense war makes – and how any race is not immune to performing barbaric acts - without preaching it in so many words.
The title of the movie is derived from one of the interviewees – who describes an ‘insane waltz with a machine gun’ under heavy enemy firing on a Beirut Street with huge posters of Bashir Gemayel. But what is really interesting about the movie is that barring two characters, all the original people have provided their own voices for the movie.
Overall, a superb movie – the kind not to be missed if possible. Watching director Ari Folman’s personal view of the historical events of 1982 – interspersed with a little quirky humour from time to time – is a treat. And it leaves a lasting impression on you as you watch the actual footage of the devastated Shatila camp at the end of the movies.
Waltz With Bashir is playing only in PVR Cinemas
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