Frat Boy At the Movies: Waltz With Bashir
on January 25, 2009 at 1:56 amA sort of animated documentary, Waltz with Bashir chronicles the journey of one vet from the Israeli-Lebanon’82 War dealing with the trauma the war has caused him. It’s won a slew of awards and is considered a very controversal film in Israel. It’s been nominated for an Oscar and if it wins, it would be the first film in history to win an Oscar for Israel.
(Spoilers) The story follows Ron, who has met an old war buddy at a bar. He’s having strange dreams about dogs. (The dog credit sequence is pretty damned intense.) Ron, unlike his friend, has not had flashbacks about the war, even after 20 years. But after the meeting with his friends, he starts to have them. But Ron can’t remember what happened during a bloody Palenstian massacre during the war and he’s not sure he was even there. His friend, a therapist, suggests he trace his steps by contacting his old buddies.
The animation is both dreamy and riveting. It’s one of those movies that just zooms by and you can’t believe its over already. That’s not to say it’s an action movie, it’s a “horrors of war” movie. And it’s all the more credible because it’s based on the true events of the filmmaker.
It is subtitled (it’s in Hebrew) and contains a lot of the messed-up war stories from that time. It’s ending is pretty damned depressing and you can imagine why it raised the hackles of the Israeli government. With all the mess that’s happening in Gaza right now and the strained Israeli-U.S. relations, it’s a very timely movie as well.
I give Waltz with Bashir 9 keggers out fo 10. It’s not much of a date movie, unless your date is really into movies or is very intense. But if you want to see animation pushed to its limit, it’s not one to miss.
