Waltz With Bashir
Monday, January 26th, 2009Runtime: 90 minutes
Director/Writer: Ari Folman
Whenever a film sets out to tackle matters of historical record — specifically, ones which are still the subject of debate — it takes a significant risk. Often, movies that attempt to deal with complex issues simply try to cover too much material, and fall short of producing the poignant, brief moments that are, really, the most memorable for moviegoers.
Waltz With Bashir does an effective job in portraying the fragmented and half-repressed war memories of its narrator (Ari Folman, also the film’s director), weaving some haunting imagery with accounts from various sources — some involved directly with the protagonist, and others simply included for added context. The latter is what some critics have perceived as a weakness in the film, since it really goes beyond Ari Folman’s personal story, and may not satisfy those looking for a traditional plot arc.
Likewise, there have been some technical critiques of the animation style itself, which Folman earnestly attributes to the work’s low budget:
“Someone asked in one Q&A if the characters walk slow because they are traumatized,” Folman recalls. “I answered that they walk slow because the budget is low. If we had more money, we could do more classic animation.”
The film seems to strive beyond a memoir for the sake of becoming a fuller account of the 1982 massacres at the Shatila and Sabra camps in Beirut. Nothing about the film feels gratuitous, nor is the viewer fed much political ideology — which is not an easy feat, considering the politically charged subject matter. Ultimately, that is a result of the trust and credibility that Folman builds with the viewer, simply by being honest.
