Review of Waltz with Bashir

Ari Folman’s Waltz with Bashir is an interesting animated piece. The film deals with Folman retracing his steps back to the Lebanon War in 1982. The characters and the environment are all shown in very specific details, even the rain moves in the direction the wind shifts (like in real life). According to Wikipedia, the film took four years to complete and it was made completely with Flash (Impressive!). Wikipedia also mentions that the film is one of the “first Israeli animated feature-length films released in movie theaters since Alina and Yoram Gross's Ba'al Hahalomot (1962).”

The film’s artistic style was the use of realistic graphics, almost like a comic book. Wikipedia even noted that the film actually branched out with a comic book. The drawings are so “realistic” to the point where people confuse it to be a rotoscope piece. Surprisingly it was not rotoscoped, it uses classic animation, in Flash. It used classic music to set the tone and mood of the animation, this is very important and effective because the music helps enhance the audience’s interaction with the movie, and it engages the reader because of the moods.

I love that this film is an animated documentary. The fact that the documentary is animated is definitly one of the reasons I was drawn to the film. The animation made the film less boring and more interesting. It draws the viewer in and then when the viewer is sucked in to the movie, they conclude the film with horrific real life visuals to leave the reader thinking and surprised. It was brilliant!