Waltz with Bashir
A few years ago, I saw this film on display at the Fantasy Filmfest, back then when I didn’t want to spend 8 euros on those movies I expected to be able to see later anyways. In the end, I only saw some of the short films which I expected to be rather difficult to get later.
About a year later, after “Waltz with Bashir” got a theatrical release in Germany, I heard about the film a second time. Somebody at university mentioned to me how much he was impressed by the end of the film, and that its brutality was totally shocking to him. Despite having heard relatively much about the film including somebody’s recommendation, I am surprised at how unexpected the movie turned out to be. I had no idea that it was a documentation, and a relatively plotless one at that. In fact, even 30 minutes into the film, I thought that this would rather be something like a crime mystery in which the main character’s memories are going to be revealed piece by piece.
The end itself – the change from animation towards real news footage – was even more surprising. It is definitely not the end I imagined, but nevertheless these are gripping pictures, even more so after an hour of bad animation.
Speaking of bad animation… it really was that bad. In the end, I think they could have done a better job if they shot the film with real people and then used the same technology as for “A Scanner Darkly” to animate the film. But approaching it in the conventional way makes the animation look horrible compared to what you are used to see elsewhere. I find it remarkable that the small team has managed to do this (normally you’d see significantly more names involved in the animation process), and it’s a pity that this had such a bad impact on the animation quality.
Finally, I am sure that a film like this has many problems in terms of its political meaning, and the politics are surely one of the reasons why the movie was such a hit with the critics. (The other one being the innovation of making an animated feature-length documentary, but really who cares about that?) As for myself, I would probably say I liked parts of the film, but I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it. It is ultimately a documentary after all.
PS. I almost wrote “Waltz witz bashir” – Freudian slip?
Hmm, I wouldn’t call this documentary plot-less. More like an open interpretation. After hearing of tales from different people POV and questioning their integrity, it comes to a true to life rendering at the wrenching final scene.
And yes I shed a tear at the end. My friend came out visibly distraught since he had actually visited Lebanon and saw the remaining war scars 20 years on.
I am a sucker for war documentaries and animated journals, especially those authored by Joe Sacco. Reading tales of atrocities is bad enough, but to see them in illustrative form amplifies the effect.
I didn’t mind the “awful” animation since I was already hooked on the story. (Years of watching badly drawn anime helped)
Whaaaat? Years of watching ‘good’ anime makes you see the distinction between good animation and… Waltz with Bashir even more obvious. :D
But yeah, I think I understand why the animation quality is not too great (according to the credits, it also was a relatively small group working on it), and ultimately the story is the crucial aspect of the film – which I found pretty plot-less. You don’t actually get a good picture, or any sort of factual account of what happened – which is fine, but then again, the memories of those people don’t actually provide very much either, except that now we know that some of the Israeli soldiers there were shocked at what happened and feared for their own lives. More than anything else, the film made me want to look up what exactly happened in Lebanon at the time.