Waltz with Bashir (2008)

Nice effects though.

Good movie but grossly overrated

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

" Waltz with Bashir ",Israeli animated film that has it all. War story, made a documentary, the memory of veterans, the problem of separation of vague memories from actual events. I really liked this film. I had no idea that won the Oscar for best foreign film in 2009. The true story of an unnecessary massacre in the Palestinian camp, who carried the Christian soldiers, disguised in Israeli army uniforms. I can say, very boldly something to show. True story, documentary, presented as animated movie, but at the end, we can see a horrible , original scene of the massacre. I am thrilled with the film.

I knew this Israeli / Hebrew film was animated, and I knew it had something to do with a war, but I had no idea it was a real life subject, it is essentially like A Scanner Darkly, cartoon imagery put over the real life filming. Basically in 1982, Ali Forman was aged nineteen and working for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) as an infantry soldier, in 2006, he meets former army friend who tells him of his nightmarish experiences from the Lebanon War. Folman is surprised he cannot remember anything from this period, but later at night he has a vision from the night of the Sabra and Shatila massacre, he cannot clearly recall the realities of it, he has memories of himself and fellow soldier comrades bathing by the seaside in Beirut at night under the light of descending flares. Folman meets with a childhood friend who advises him to find other people in Beirut at the same time to understand what happened there and revive his own memories. Folman, amongst others, meets friends and other soldiers who served in the Lebanon War, a psychologist, and Israeli TV reporter Ron Ben- Yishai who covered Beirut at the time. Folman eventually realises he was with soldiers surrounding the Palestinian refugee camp, he was among those soldiers firing flares in the sky for the Lebanese Christian Phalange, and a massacre was perpetrated inside. Folan concludes that his amnesia of the war stemmed from his feeling as a teenage soldier that he was as guilty of the massacre as those who committed the atrocity, the end of the film dissolves from animation into actual footage of the aftermath of the massacre. With contributions from Ronny Dayag, Dror Harazi and Ori Sivan. The documentary has a very different and ingenious concept, memories from a bleak time history are reignited after twenty-five years, with the war stories presented in flash and 3D animation, adding to the surrealistic edge of the film, it doesn't shy away from the dark moments, with traumatic and almost hallucinatory sequences of the horrors of war and the crimes committed during, all together it is a most interesting animated documentary. It won the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film, it was nominated the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film of the Year, and it was nominated the BAFTAs for Best Film Not in the English Language and Best Animated Film. Good!

The psychological conflict of the war brilliantly explained I must say this animation is very similar to the story of a book. Achieve illustrate all without taste of war, human stupidity, feelings and small flashes of humanity that can go into a war.Walts with Bashir could be described as a well-narrated film without vices or propaganda.Quickly, the story grabs you and you live the torments of characters in each of the situations presented.This is a film that should be present in the election of a film lover.For me completely exceeded my expectations, so I evaluated with 10

Waltz with Bashir is animated like nothing I have ever seen before. Friends have compared it to a grittier Avatar: The Last Airbender. This gritty stylized animation does wonders for the film, it always looks it's best when combat or some form of action is happening. In turn allowing the film to help convey the animosity of combat along with it's many other messages. The scoring of this film also does wonders for it, such as the juxtaposition of a soft piano medley over an intense gun fight. This film has it's moments that will blow you away and thanks to all the artistic trait of this film they are delivered perfectly. My only warning for this film is that it starts a bit slow, but it ramps itself amazingly in the second half in artistic value, character development, and plot. I recommend this to anyone who even only vaguely would like to see it.