Waltz with Bashir (DVD)

In September 1982, in the midst of the Lebanese Civil War, the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) fought bitterly though the concrete jungle that was Beirut. Their objective: to root out the Palestinian insurgents who were responsible for the assassination of the short-lived Christian President, Bashir Gemayel - and, more generally, to curb (with extreme prejudice) the political expansion of Islam in the Near East. Soon, however, they were found "indirectly responsible" for the brutal liquidation of the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps, in which a disputed figure (between 300 and 3,500) Palestinian civilians were massacred in revenge killings by the Lebanese Christian ...  Read the complete review

It is seldom that a movie comes along that seems to change your whole concept of a certain genre. Even rarer, when that movie touches more than one genre and is thereby doubly effective. With Israel's movie Waltz with Bashir we get this feeling. And while this animated documentary might not be the first of its kind, it certainly is the first feature length film in this category, and that's no small achievement. The concept behind the film is set up in the opening sequence, where film maker Ari Folman is being told by his friend Boaz of a recurring nightmare. In Boaz's dream, 26 very angry dogs are hunting him. Boaz explains that this is about his time fighting ...  Read the complete review

Waltz with Bashir sits behind WALL-E as the second best animated film of 2008. This is a revolutionary animated film that proves the form has purpose beyond sheer entertainment or babysitting - this is a powerful and incisive film that is also revolutionary in form, as possibly the first animated documentary ever made. Waltz with Bashir was written and directed by Ari Folman, based on his very own search for his lost memories from the 1982 Lebanon War. Folman himself is the protagonist, a man who frequently talks to friends about the war, and intercuts this with his memories of the way, which gradually become more and more pronounced as the film progresses. ...  Read the complete review

A war-time tale with a difference, Waltz with Bashir takes us on a journey of personal discovey, through various war torn scenarios, until its ultimately shocking finale. Told in a strange, cartoon-esque style (belying the adult nature of the material), the film grips you from the start - The first scene of the marauding dogs running through the streets hugely effective as a piece of technical bravado and as an attention grabber. The film goes to some very dark places, the centrepiece of the story being the massacre that the protagonist is trying to recall. He traces back through his past, traumatised by the fact that he cannot recall exactly ...  Read the complete review

This film is the best film I've seen this year. Touching on so many levels and possibly the most powerful ending I've ever seen in any film I truly believe this to be a masterpiece. From the opening sequence I was gripped, taken totally by surprise by a snarling pack of dogs unrelenting in their call for blood. The film was made almost entirely in flash animation, a first for my viewing, and I believe the contrast between the animation and the dark subject matter makes many of the scenes even more poignant instead of trivialising them as one may expect. The film follows an ex soldier around twenty years after his conscription for the Israeli armed forces and ...  Read the complete review