" 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!

This film was a big deal quite a few years ago now and pretty much since then I have told myself that I should watch it because it is supposed to be very good. Of course the subject matter made my lazy, stupid brain always take easier options when it came to picking from the queue and as such Waltz with Bashir has kicked around at the bottom of a drawer for quite some time now waiting to be watched. I finally got over myself this week and did so and I really didn't enjoy the experience although of course this is precisely how it should have been.The film is a tough watch as it reconstructs memories from the protagonist and his friends who were all involved in the Lebanon War in the late 80's. It starts out slowly and takes the form of an documentary where we have the characters relating their experiences back to us through interviews (although mostly they are discussions). This device is common in documentary films and are supported by stock footage of the events; in this case the delivery is different as the film is animated so we are able to see events as they occurred in the character's experience, not just representative footage. This works very well and allows for some really cinematic shots but also the best shot selection as anything is possible in animation. The film builds through the stories and generally it is as horrifying as it is engaging – it is a series of well told stories and it works very well because you listen even when it is difficult to do so.It isn't fun and it isn't easy but it is visually very well made and the whole structure and delivery of the film is engaging and brutal. It is a great war film, a great animation – just generally a great film.

A documentary that is equivalent to the motion pictures like Schindler's List and Hotel Rwanda, by its presentation of the inhuman massacre, the war and the fanaticism arising from the war.It was a bold, yet brilliant attempt by Ari Folman, to make a documentary of a war he was a part of, but has forgotten with passing years, just like everyone else. He, with the help of his friends, who too were enlisted for the attack on Lebanon, were in their late teens and were consumed by the zeal to kill at will. None of them remember the exact details of the war, but they help Ari complete the jigsaw puzzle of the war by recollecting their personal experiences.While the main plot deals with Ari Folman retracing his memory and the horror of battle every one of his fellow recruits had to endure, a sub, yet pivotal plot includes the inhuman massacre of Palestinian civilians. The assassination of the elected President triggers the massacre among his zealous acolytes and the Israeli forces, of which the filmmaker was a part of, are unaware of the genocide conducted by the Christian Phalangists.The documentary is animated except for the last few minutes of running time, that shows the archive footage of women crying in the midst of a razed refugee camp with dead bodies piled up all over the place.A 10/10, without the slightest hesitation.