WALTZ WITH BASHIR  (MA)

Animated documentary
Directed by Ari Folman

In 1982, director Ari Folman was serving in Beirut but memory is a fickle thing. Twenty years later, all he can recall is a series of discordant images. This need to know forms the basis for his ground breaking documentary – memory’s unreliable participation in the process of history, and the selective nature of memory itself. Folman comes to realise he can no longer make sense of his military service and seeks answers from a number of sources – psychologists and ex-soldiers, through conversation and visitation – in the hope of rebuilding his memory. These interviews were filmed and used as reference for the hallucinatory, animé-styled drawings that distinguish his film. Waltz With Bashir is a strikingly original production. The eye-catching technique commands attention and empowers Folman to resensitise audiences and pull them deeper into his story in ways that conventional methods could never do. Steady concentration is required as he blurs the line between reality, dramatisation and delirium with a wilful freedom. It’s easy to loose sight of Folman’s purpose and become lost in the emotional turbulence he generates, for Waltz With Bashir is a deeply emotional film. And appropriately so. Part history lesson, part exploration of human frailty, it is a significant achievement.

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