Have you ever gone to see a film, where for about 2 or so minutes after the end of the film, while the credits are rolling, noone - I mean absolutely noone - in the whole auditorium, moves, says anything, and everyone just sits there in absolute silence?
This is exactly what happened last night, when Margreet and I went to see "Waltz With Bashir" at the Filmhuis in The Hague. Not only after the projectionist turned on the light, did the 40 or so movie-goers start to get up to leave.
"Waltz With Bashir" is the personal story of Israeli filmmaker Ari Folman as he tries reconstruct his lost memories surrounding his military service as a 19-year-old during the 1982 war between Israel and Lebanon, and his involvement with the Sabra and Shatila massacre.
The film hard to categorize. It is a compilation of interviews with people who served with him, friends, his psychologist and a well-known journalist (in Israel) who covered the war, mixed in with vivid and violent flashbacks, both real and surreal. The unique thing about this "documentary" is that virtually the whole film is animated even though the interviews are quite real.
The film gives us a unique insight into war, where there are no clear villains nor heroes. The film pretends not to be political, yet leaves you with the feeling that all war is inevitably pointless and destructive.
The animation is incredibly good and the soundtrack is haunting, and even though you're basically watching a cartoon, you never get the sense that you're watching a fiction, a point vividly brought to life at the end when the filmmaker leaves us with live footage of the massacre.
If you can get a chance to see this film, I definitely recommend you do so. If you do see it, I would love for you to respond to this post with your thoughts on the film. Also, if you have a response to the question I posed in the first paragraph of this post, I would love to know the name of the film.
Trailer:
"Waltz With Bashir" official website: http://waltzwithbashir.com/home.html
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