Waltz with Bashir
Encyclopedia
Waltz with Bashir is a 2008 Israeli animated documentary film
written and directed by Ari Folman
. It depicts Folman in search of his lost memories from the 1982 Lebanon War
.
This film and $9.99
, also released in 2008, are the first Israeli animated feature-length films released in movie theaters since Alina and Yoram Gross
's Ba'al Hahalomot (1962). Waltz with Bashir premiered at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival
where it entered the competition for the Palme d'Or
, and since then has won and been nominated for many additional important awards while receiving wide acclaim from critics. It won a Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film
, an NSFC Award for Best Film
, a César Award for Best Foreign Film
and an IDA
Award for Feature Documentary, and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
, a BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language and an Annie Award for Best Animated Feature
.
Despite the popularity of the film and success of private screenings, it is officially banned
in Lebanon.
(IDF). In 2006, he meets with a friend from his army service period, who tells him of the nightmares connected to his experiences from the Lebanon War
. Folman is surprised to find that he does not remember a thing from that period. Later that night he has a vision from the night of the Sabra and Shatila massacre
, the reality of which he is unable to tell. In his memory, he and his soldier friends are bathing at night by the seaside in Beirut
under the light of flares descending over the city. Folman rushes off to meet another friend from his army service, who advises him to discuss it with other people who were in Beirut at the same time in order to understand what happened there and to revive his own memories. Folman converses with friends, a psychologist and the reporter Ron Ben-Yishai
, who was in Beirut at the time. Folman realizes that he "was in the second or third ring" of soldiers surrounding the camp, and that he was among those soldiers firing flares into the sky to illuminate the camp for the militia carrying out the massacre inside. He concludes that his amnesia stems from his feeling, at the age of 19, that he was as guilty of the massacre as those who actually carried it out. The film ends with animation dissolving into actual footage of the aftermath of the massacre.
" (to the tune of Chopin
's Waltz in C Sharp) amid heavy enemy fire on a Beirut street festooned with huge posters of Bashir Gemayel
. Thematically, the film's title is a symbolic description of the "Waltz", which is a dance for couple, that Folman is "Dancing" with his memories from the war in Lebanon.
made almost entirely by the means of animation
. It combines classical music
, 1980s music, realistic graphics, and surrealistic scenes together with illustrations similar to comics
. The entire film is animated, excluding one short segment of news archive footage.
The animation, with its dark hues representing the overall feel of the film, uses a unique style invented by Yoni Goodman
at the Bridgit Folman Film Gang studio in Israel. The technique is often confused with rotoscoping, an animation style that uses drawings over live footage, but is actually a combination of Adobe Flash
cutouts and classic animation. Each drawing was sliced into hundreds of pieces which were moved in relation to one another, thus creating the illusion of movement. The film was first shot in a sound studio as a 90-minute video and then transferred to a storyboard
. From there 2,300 original illustrations were drawn based on the storyboard, which together formed the actual film scenes using Flash animation, classic animation, and 3D technologies.
The original soundtrack was composed by minimalist electronic musician Max Richter
while the featured songs are by OMD
("Enola Gay
"), PiL
("This is Not a Love Song"), Navadei Haucaf ("Good Morning Lebanon", written for the movie), The Clique ("Incubator"), and Zeev Tene (a remake of the Cake
song "I Bombed Korea", retitled "Beirut"). Some reviewers have viewed the music as playing an active role as commentator on events instead of simple accompaniment.
The comics
medium, in particular Joe Sacco
, the novels Catch-22
, The Adventures of Wesley Jackson, and Slaughterhouse-Five
, and painter Otto Dix
were mentioned by Folman and art director
David Polonsky as influences on the film. The film itself was adapted into a graphic novel in 2009.
named the film the tenth best of the year, based on the site's annual survey of 100 film critics.
Xan Brooks of The Guardian
called it "an extraordinary, harrowing, provocative picture." The film was praised for "inventing a new cinematographic language" at the Tokyo Filmex
festival. Despite the positive critical reception, the film was only moderately commercially successful in Israel itself. However, a recent Haaretz
poll has called Waltz with Bashir the third favorite film of all time among Israelis.
American Documentarian Alex Gibney
called the film "The documentary from the last 10 years he is most jealous of" in an answer to that question during a podcast with Bill Simmons
, saying "It took a subject that on the face of it, the Sabra and Shatila massacre
... it was a long time ago, who cares about it now and it's very grizzly, but it took this idea of soldiers haunted by something, and imagined it in an animation way, and so you are slowly coming around to the subject, and recognizing it like a memory that has been lost, and so you are now recovering until the very end of the film, suddenly this animated film goes to real life footage, and you realize, OK, I've recovered the memory and now I remember the horror. It was just a really really powerful film. That was something, just knocked my socks off that one."
correspondent Gideon Levy
has stated that the film is "stylish, sophisticated, gifted and tasteful - but propaganda
" for portraying Israel and the IDF
in a too positive light. He labels it a "charade," and as "(...) an act of fraud and deceit (...)". The Nation
viewed the film's depiction of the events as disturbingly realistic and timely, lamenting that "Israel of today is not Ari Folman
's. It is Avigdor Lieberman's and Benjamin Netanyahu
's". Commentary called the film both "emotionally powerful" and "intellectually shallow" due to its "murky ambiguity" about the IDF's role in the massacre. The otherwise positive review also concludes with a note of frustration at the lack of context for the events depicted and cynicism about the shallow breastbeating of the narrative: "What terrible things Israel has done— and how wonderful it is to have souls sensitive enough to admit it." The comparisons drawn between SS
behavior during the Holocaust
and IDF's behavior during the massacre by a character in the film is particularly controversial. Commentary remarked that:
writer John Rosenthal called the scenes "wildly overblown" and "an obvious logical howler".
gers, among them the Lebanese Inner Circle, +961 and others have rebelled against the Lebanese government's ban of the movie, and have managed to get the movie seen by local Lebanese critics, in defiance of their government's request on banning it. The film was privately screened in January 2009 in Beirut
in front of 90 people. Since then many screenings have taken place. Pirated copies are sold everywhere in the country. Folman saw the screening as a source of great pride:
It was also ranked #34 in Empire
magazine's "The 100 Best Films Of World Cinema" in 2010, and #4 in Current TV
's "50 Documentaries to See Before You Die
" in 2011.
(1971), and the first documentary film to win the award.
It was unsuccessfully submitted for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature
nomination, and became ineligible for the Academy Award for Documentary Feature
when the Academy announced its new rule to nominate only documentaries which have had a qualifying run in both New York and Los Angeles by August 31.
The film was also included in the National Board of Review
's Top Foreign Films list. Ari Folman won the WGA
's Best Documentary Feature Screenplay award and the DGA
's Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary award for creating the film. Folman also received nominations for Annie Awards and BAFTA Awards for Best Animated Feature, but lost both award to Kung Fu Panda
and WALL-E
.
Cannes Film Festival
:
César Awards
:
Chicago Film Critics Association Awards
:
Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Awards
:
Directors Guild of America Awards
:
European Film Awards
:
Best Director (Ari Folman, nominated)
Best Screenwriter (Ari Folman, nominated)
Festival du Nouveau Cinéma
:
Golden Globe Awards
:
International Cinephile Society Awards:
Best Animated Film (won)
Best Documentary (won)
International Documentary Association Awards
:
International Film Music Critics Association Awards:
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards
:
National Society of Film Critics Awards
:
Ophir Awards:
Palić Film Festival
:
Satellite Awards
:
Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival
:
Tokyo Filmex
:
Utah Film Critics Association Awards
:
Writers Guild of America Awards
:
Animated documentary
The animated documentary is a genre of film which combines the genres of animation and documentary. This genre should not be confused with documentaries about movie and TV animation history that feature excerpts.- History :...
written and directed by Ari Folman
Ari Folman
Ari Folman is an Israeli film director, screenwriter and film score composer.-Biography:Ari Folman was born in Haifa to Holocaust survivors. His wife is also a film director...
. It depicts Folman in search of his lost memories from the 1982 Lebanon War
1982 Lebanon War
The 1982 Lebanon War , , called Operation Peace for Galilee by Israel, and later known in Israel as the Lebanon War and First Lebanon War, began on 6 June 1982, when the Israel Defense Forces invaded southern Lebanon...
.
This film and $9.99
$9.99
$9.99 is a 2008 Australian/Israeli stop motion film written and directed by Tatia Rosenthal, with the screenplay by Etgar Keret. This film marks the third collaboration between Rosenthal and Keret...
, also released in 2008, are the first Israeli animated feature-length films released in movie theaters since Alina and Yoram Gross
Yoram Gross
Yoram Gross is an Australian producer of children’s and family entertainment. The company is best known for producing Blinky Bill and Dot and the Kangaroo.- History :...
's Ba'al Hahalomot (1962). Waltz with Bashir premiered at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival
2008 Cannes Film Festival
The 61st Annual Cannes Film Festival was held from May 14 to May 25, 2008. In addition to films selected for competition this year, major Hollywood productions such as Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and Kung Fu Panda had their world premieres at the festival.The British press...
where it entered the competition for the Palme d'Or
Palme d'Or
The Palme d'Or is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival and is presented to the director of the best feature film of the official competition. It was introduced in 1955 by the organising committee. From 1939 to 1954, the highest prize was the Grand Prix du Festival International du...
, and since then has won and been nominated for many additional important awards while receiving wide acclaim from critics. It won a Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film
Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film
The Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film is one of the awards presented at the Golden Globes, an American film awards ceremony.Until 1986, it was known as the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Film, meaning that any non-American film could be honoured...
, an NSFC Award for Best Film
National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Film
The National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Picture is an annual award given by National Society of Film Critics to honor the best film of the year....
, a César Award for Best Foreign Film
César Award for Best Foreign Film
This is the list of winners and nominees of the César Award for Best Foreign Film .-1970s:-1980s:-1990s:-2000s:-2010s:...
and an IDA
International Documentary Association
International Documentary Association , founded in 1982, is a non-profit organization promoting documentary film, video and new media, to support the efforts of documentary filmmaking and video production makers around the world and to increase public appreciation and demand for the art of the...
Award for Feature Documentary, and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
The Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film is one of the Academy Awards of Merit, popularly known as the Oscars, handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences...
, a BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language and an Annie Award for Best Animated Feature
Annie Award for Best Animated Feature
The Annie Award for Best Animated Feature is an Annie Award, awarded annually to the best animated feature film and introduced in 1992. In 1998 the award was renamed Outstanding Achievement in an Animated Theatrical Feature, only to be reverted back to its original title again in 2001...
.
Despite the popularity of the film and success of private screenings, it is officially banned
Political censorship
Political censorship exists when a government attempts to conceal, distort, or falsify information that its citizens receive by suppressing or crowding out political news that the public might receive through news outlets. In the absence of unflattering but objective information, people will be...
in Lebanon.
Plot summary
In 1982, Ari Folman was a 19-year-old infantry soldier in the Israel Defense ForcesIsrael Defense Forces
The Israel Defense Forces , commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew acronym Tzahal , are the military forces of the State of Israel. They consist of the ground forces, air force and navy. It is the sole military wing of the Israeli security forces, and has no civilian jurisdiction within Israel...
(IDF). In 2006, he meets with a friend from his army service period, who tells him of the nightmares connected to his experiences from the Lebanon War
1982 Lebanon War
The 1982 Lebanon War , , called Operation Peace for Galilee by Israel, and later known in Israel as the Lebanon War and First Lebanon War, began on 6 June 1982, when the Israel Defense Forces invaded southern Lebanon...
. Folman is surprised to find that he does not remember a thing from that period. Later that night he has a vision from the night of the Sabra and Shatila massacre
Sabra and Shatila massacre
The Sabra and Shatila massacre took place in the Sabra and Shatila Palestinian refugee camps in Beirut, Lebanon between September 16 and September 18, 1982, during the Lebanese civil war. Palestinian and Lebanese civilians were massacred in the camps by Christian Lebanese Phalangists while the camp...
, the reality of which he is unable to tell. In his memory, he and his soldier friends are bathing at night by the seaside in Beirut
Beirut
Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan...
under the light of flares descending over the city. Folman rushes off to meet another friend from his army service, who advises him to discuss it with other people who were in Beirut at the same time in order to understand what happened there and to revive his own memories. Folman converses with friends, a psychologist and the reporter Ron Ben-Yishai
Ron Ben-Yishai
Ron Ben-Yishai is an Israeli journalist. A veteran war correspondent, Ben-Yishai has covered many military conflicts in several different regions.-Biography:...
, who was in Beirut at the time. Folman realizes that he "was in the second or third ring" of soldiers surrounding the camp, and that he was among those soldiers firing flares into the sky to illuminate the camp for the militia carrying out the massacre inside. He concludes that his amnesia stems from his feeling, at the age of 19, that he was as guilty of the massacre as those who actually carried it out. The film ends with animation dissolving into actual footage of the aftermath of the massacre.
Cast
The film contains both fictional composites of real life figures and actual living people.- Ari Folman as himself, an Israeli filmmaker who recently finished his military reserveMilitary reserveA military reserve, tactical reserve, or strategic reserve is a group of military personnel or units which are initially not committed to a battle by their commander so that they are available to address unforeseen situations or exploit suddenly developing...
service. Some twenty years before, he served in the IDF during the Lebanon War. - Miki Leon as Boaz Rein-Buskila, an Israeli Lebanon War veteran accountant suffering from nightmares.
- Ori SivanOri SivanOri Sivan is an Israeli film director, television director, screenwriter, and film editor.Ori is married to Galit Sivan and they have five children. They live in Kibbutz Beit Nir in Israel.-Biography:...
as himself, an Israeli filmmaker who previously co-directed two films with Folman and is his long-time friend. - Yehezkel LazarovYehezkel LazarovYehezkel Lazarov is an Israeli actor, dancer and choreographer. He played in Three Mothers next to Miri Mesika and The Debt.-Biography:...
as Carmi Cna'an, an Israeli Lebanon War veteran who once was Folman's friend and now lives in the NetherlandsNetherlandsThe Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
. - Ronny Dayag as himself, an Israeli Lebanon War veteran high food engineer.
- Shmuel Frenkel as himself, an Israeli Lebanon War veteran. During this war he was the commander of an infantry unit.
- Zahava Solomon as herself, an Israeli psychologist and researcher in the field of psychological traumaPsychological traumaPsychological trauma is a type of damage to the psyche that occurs as a result of a traumatic event...
. - Ron Ben-YishaiRon Ben-YishaiRon Ben-Yishai is an Israeli journalist. A veteran war correspondent, Ben-Yishai has covered many military conflicts in several different regions.-Biography:...
as himself, an Israeli journalist who was the first to cover the massacre. - Dror Harazi as himself, an Israeli Lebanon War veteran. During this war he commanded a tank brigade stationed outside the Shatila refugee campShatila refugee campThe Shatila refugee camp is a long-term refugee camp for Palestinian refugees, set up by UNRWA in 1949. The camp is located within the Lebanese capital Beirut. As of December 2003, it housed 12,235 registered refugees...
.
Title
The film takes its title from a scene in which Shmuel Frenkel, one of the interviewees and the commander of Folman's infantry unit at the time of the film's events, grabs a light machine gun and "dances an insane waltzWaltz
The waltz is a ballroom and folk dance in time, performed primarily in closed position.- History :There are several references to a sliding or gliding dance,- a waltz, from the 16th century including the representations of the printer H.S. Beheim...
" (to the tune of Chopin
Frédéric Chopin
Frédéric François Chopin was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist. He is considered one of the great masters of Romantic music and has been called "the poet of the piano"....
's Waltz in C Sharp) amid heavy enemy fire on a Beirut street festooned with huge posters of Bashir Gemayel
Bachir Gemayel
Bachir Gemayel was a Lebanese politician, militia commander, and president-elect...
. Thematically, the film's title is a symbolic description of the "Waltz", which is a dance for couple, that Folman is "Dancing" with his memories from the war in Lebanon.
Production
The film took four years to complete. It is unusual in it being a feature-length documentaryDocumentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
made almost entirely by the means of animation
Animation
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...
. It combines classical music
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
, 1980s music, realistic graphics, and surrealistic scenes together with illustrations similar to comics
Comics
Comics denotes a hybrid medium having verbal side of its vocabulary tightly tied to its visual side in order to convey narrative or information only, the latter in case of non-fiction comics, seeking synergy by using both visual and verbal side in...
. The entire film is animated, excluding one short segment of news archive footage.
The animation, with its dark hues representing the overall feel of the film, uses a unique style invented by Yoni Goodman
Yoni Goodman
Yoni Goodman is an Israeli animator. Goodman began his career as an illustrator and graphic designer, working for two of Israel's major newspapers, Maariv and Haaretz. In 1998, he studied at the department of visual communication in Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, Jerusalem, majoring in...
at the Bridgit Folman Film Gang studio in Israel. The technique is often confused with rotoscoping, an animation style that uses drawings over live footage, but is actually a combination of Adobe Flash
Adobe Flash
Adobe Flash is a multimedia platform used to add animation, video, and interactivity to web pages. Flash is frequently used for advertisements, games and flash animations for broadcast...
cutouts and classic animation. Each drawing was sliced into hundreds of pieces which were moved in relation to one another, thus creating the illusion of movement. The film was first shot in a sound studio as a 90-minute video and then transferred to a storyboard
Storyboard
Storyboards are graphic organizers in the form of illustrations or images displayed in sequence for the purpose of pre-visualizing a motion picture, animation, motion graphic or interactive media sequence....
. From there 2,300 original illustrations were drawn based on the storyboard, which together formed the actual film scenes using Flash animation, classic animation, and 3D technologies.
The original soundtrack was composed by minimalist electronic musician Max Richter
Max Richter (Composer)
Max Richter is a German-born British composer.-Biography:Richter studied composition and piano at University of Edinburgh, the Royal Academy of Music and with Luciano Berio in Florence. After finishing his studies, Richter co-founded the contemporary classical ensemble Piano Circus...
while the featured songs are by OMD
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark are a synthpop group whose founding members are originally from the Wirral Peninsula, England...
("Enola Gay
Enola Gay (song)
"Enola Gay" is a song by British synthpop band Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark . It was written by frontman Andy McCluskey, and appears on the band's second album, Organisation . It was released as a 7" single on 26 September 1980...
"), PiL
Public Image Ltd.
Public Image Ltd are an English post-punk band formed by vocalist John Lydon , guitarist Keith Levene and bassist Jah Wobble, with frequent subsequent personnel changes. Lydon is the sole constant member of the band....
("This is Not a Love Song"), Navadei Haucaf ("Good Morning Lebanon", written for the movie), The Clique ("Incubator"), and Zeev Tene (a remake of the Cake
Cake (band)
Cake is an American alternative rock band from Sacramento, California. Consisting of singer John McCrea, trumpeter Vince DiFiore, guitarist Xan McCurdy, bassist Gabe Nelson and drummer Paulo Baldi, the band has been noted for McCrea's sarcastic lyrics and deadpan voice, DiFiore's trumpet parts, and...
song "I Bombed Korea", retitled "Beirut"). Some reviewers have viewed the music as playing an active role as commentator on events instead of simple accompaniment.
The comics
Comics
Comics denotes a hybrid medium having verbal side of its vocabulary tightly tied to its visual side in order to convey narrative or information only, the latter in case of non-fiction comics, seeking synergy by using both visual and verbal side in...
medium, in particular Joe Sacco
Joe Sacco
Joe Sacco is a Maltese-American comics artist and journalist. He achieved international fame through the 1996 American Book Award-winning Palestine, and his graphic novel on the Bosnian War, Safe Area Goražde.- Biography :...
, the novels Catch-22
Catch-22
Catch-22 is a satirical, historical novel by the American author Joseph Heller. He began writing it in 1953, and the novel was first published in 1961. It is set during World War II in 1943 and is frequently cited as one of the great literary works of the twentieth century...
, The Adventures of Wesley Jackson, and Slaughterhouse-Five
Slaughterhouse-Five
Slaughterhouse-Five, or The Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death is a satirical novel by Kurt Vonnegut about World War II experiences and journeys through time of a soldier called Billy Pilgrim...
, and painter Otto Dix
Otto Dix
Wilhelm Heinrich Otto Dix was a German painter and printmaker, noted for his ruthless and harshly realistic depictions of Weimar society and the brutality of war. Along with George Grosz, he is widely considered one of the most important artists of the Neue Sachlichkeit.-Early life and...
were mentioned by Folman and art director
Art director
The art director is a person who supervise the creative process of a design.The term 'art director' is a blanket title for a variety of similar job functions in advertising, publishing, film and television, the Internet, and video games....
David Polonsky as influences on the film. The film itself was adapted into a graphic novel in 2009.
Perception of the film
indieWireIndieWire
indieWIRE is a daily news site for the independent film community. It covers indie, documentary and foreign language films, as well industry news, film festival reports, filmmaker interviews and movie reviews...
named the film the tenth best of the year, based on the site's annual survey of 100 film critics.
Xan Brooks of The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
called it "an extraordinary, harrowing, provocative picture." The film was praised for "inventing a new cinematographic language" at the Tokyo Filmex
Tokyo Filmex
Tokyo Filmex is an annual film festival established in 2000. This film festival was launched by Office Kitano, which is Takeshi Kitano's film company.For now, Office Kitano remains as one of the main partners for Tokyo Filmex....
festival. Despite the positive critical reception, the film was only moderately commercially successful in Israel itself. However, a recent Haaretz
Haaretz
Haaretz is Israel's oldest daily newspaper. It was founded in 1918 and is now published in both Hebrew and English in Berliner format. The English edition is published and sold together with the International Herald Tribune. Both Hebrew and English editions can be read on the Internet...
poll has called Waltz with Bashir the third favorite film of all time among Israelis.
American Documentarian Alex Gibney
Alex Gibney
Alex Gibney is an American documentary film director and producer. In 2010, Esquire magazine said Gibney "is becoming the most important documentarian of our time."...
called the film "The documentary from the last 10 years he is most jealous of" in an answer to that question during a podcast with Bill Simmons
Bill Simmons
William J. "Bill" Simmons III is a sports columnist, author, and podcaster. He currently writes columns and hosts podcasts for Grantland.com, which is affiliated with ESPN.com. He is a former writer for ESPN The Magazine and Jimmy Kimmel Live!...
, saying "It took a subject that on the face of it, the Sabra and Shatila massacre
Sabra and Shatila massacre
The Sabra and Shatila massacre took place in the Sabra and Shatila Palestinian refugee camps in Beirut, Lebanon between September 16 and September 18, 1982, during the Lebanese civil war. Palestinian and Lebanese civilians were massacred in the camps by Christian Lebanese Phalangists while the camp...
... it was a long time ago, who cares about it now and it's very grizzly, but it took this idea of soldiers haunted by something, and imagined it in an animation way, and so you are slowly coming around to the subject, and recognizing it like a memory that has been lost, and so you are now recovering until the very end of the film, suddenly this animated film goes to real life footage, and you realize, OK, I've recovered the memory and now I remember the horror. It was just a really really powerful film. That was something, just knocked my socks off that one."
Coverage of the film's subject material
Israeli newspaper HaaretzHaaretz
Haaretz is Israel's oldest daily newspaper. It was founded in 1918 and is now published in both Hebrew and English in Berliner format. The English edition is published and sold together with the International Herald Tribune. Both Hebrew and English editions can be read on the Internet...
correspondent Gideon Levy
Gideon Levy
Gideon Levy is an Israeli journalist.Levy writes opinion pieces and a weekly column for the newspaper Haaretz that often focus on the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories...
has stated that the film is "stylish, sophisticated, gifted and tasteful - but propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
" for portraying Israel and the IDF
Israel Defense Forces
The Israel Defense Forces , commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew acronym Tzahal , are the military forces of the State of Israel. They consist of the ground forces, air force and navy. It is the sole military wing of the Israeli security forces, and has no civilian jurisdiction within Israel...
in a too positive light. He labels it a "charade," and as "(...) an act of fraud and deceit (...)". The Nation
The Nation
The Nation is the oldest continuously published weekly magazine in the United States. The periodical, devoted to politics and culture, is self-described as "the flagship of the left." Founded on July 6, 1865, It is published by The Nation Company, L.P., at 33 Irving Place, New York City.The Nation...
viewed the film's depiction of the events as disturbingly realistic and timely, lamenting that "Israel of today is not Ari Folman
Ari Folman
Ari Folman is an Israeli film director, screenwriter and film score composer.-Biography:Ari Folman was born in Haifa to Holocaust survivors. His wife is also a film director...
's. It is Avigdor Lieberman's and Benjamin Netanyahu
Benjamin Netanyahu
Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu is the current Prime Minister of Israel. He serves also as the Chairman of the Likud Party, as a Knesset member, as the Health Minister of Israel, as the Pensioner Affairs Minister of Israel and as the Economic Strategy Minister of Israel.Netanyahu is the first and, to...
's". Commentary called the film both "emotionally powerful" and "intellectually shallow" due to its "murky ambiguity" about the IDF's role in the massacre. The otherwise positive review also concludes with a note of frustration at the lack of context for the events depicted and cynicism about the shallow breastbeating of the narrative: "What terrible things Israel has done— and how wonderful it is to have souls sensitive enough to admit it." The comparisons drawn between SS
Schutzstaffel
The Schutzstaffel |Sig runes]]) was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS under Heinrich Himmler's command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II...
behavior during the Holocaust
The Holocaust
The Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...
and IDF's behavior during the massacre by a character in the film is particularly controversial. Commentary remarked that:
"As vilely anti-Semitic as it is to compare Israel’s actions to those of the Nazis, it is perfectly natural for Israelis to think of the Holocaust in certain situations, because they, unlike other peoples, still live in the Holocaust’s shadow."However, Pajamas Media
Pajamas Media
PJ Media is a media company that uses the Internet to present and comment on the news.Founded in 2004 by a network primarily, but not exclusively, made up of conservatives and libertarians led by mystery writer, screenwriter, and blogger Roger L...
writer John Rosenthal called the scenes "wildly overblown" and "an obvious logical howler".
Lebanon screening
The film is banned in some Arab countries (including Lebanon), with the most harsh critics in Lebanon, as the movie depicts a vague and violent time in Lebanon's history. A movement of blogBlog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
gers, among them the Lebanese Inner Circle, +961 and others have rebelled against the Lebanese government's ban of the movie, and have managed to get the movie seen by local Lebanese critics, in defiance of their government's request on banning it. The film was privately screened in January 2009 in Beirut
Beirut
Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan...
in front of 90 people. Since then many screenings have taken place. Pirated copies are sold everywhere in the country. Folman saw the screening as a source of great pride:
Top ten lists
The film appeared on many critics' top ten lists of the best films of 2008.- 1st - Ella TaylorElla TaylorElla Taylor is a film critic who was a staff writer for the LA Weekly and Village Voice Media, writing film and book reviews, interviews, profiles, and cultural and political commentary from 1989 to 2009, when she and much of the staff were laid off....
, LA WeeklyLA WeeklyLA Weekly is a free weekly tabloid-sized "alternative weekly" in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1978 by Editor/Publisher Jay Levin and a board of directors that included actor-producer Michael Douglas... - 1st - Stephen Farber, The Hollywood ReporterThe Hollywood ReporterFormerly a daily trade magazine, The Hollywood Reporter re-launched in late 2010 as a unique hybrid publication serving the entertainment industry and a consumer audience...
- 2nd - Andrea Gronvall, Chicago Reader
- 2nd - Andrew O'Hehir, SalonSalon.comSalon.com, part of Salon Media Group , often just called Salon, is an online liberal magazine, with content updated each weekday. Salon was founded by David Talbot and launched on November 20, 1995. It was the internet's first online-only commercial publication. The magazine focuses on U.S...
- 4th - Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment WeeklyEntertainment WeeklyEntertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
- 5th - J. HobermanJ. HobermanJames Lewis Hoberman , also known as J. Hoberman, is an American film critic. He is currently the senior film critic for The Village Voice, a post he has held since 1988.-Education:...
, The Village VoiceThe Village VoiceThe Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City... - 5th - Lawrence Toppman, The Charlotte ObserverThe Charlotte ObserverThe Charlotte Observer, serving Charlotte, North Carolina and its metro area, is the largest newspaper, in terms of circulation, in North Carolina and South Carolina...
- 6th - Liam Lacey, The Globe and MailThe Globe and MailThe Globe and Mail is a nationally distributed Canadian newspaper, based in Toronto and printed in six cities across the country. With a weekly readership of approximately 1 million, it is Canada's largest-circulation national newspaper and second-largest daily newspaper after the Toronto Star...
- 7th - David EdelsteinDavid EdelsteinDavid Edelstein is the chief film critic for New York Magazine, as well as the film critic for NPR's Fresh Air and CBS Sunday Morning. He lives in Brooklyn, New York....
, New York magazineNew York (magazine)New York is a weekly magazine principally concerned with the life, culture, politics, and style of New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to The New Yorker, it was brasher and less polite than that magazine, and established itself as a cradle of New... - 7th - Marc Savlov, The Austin Chronicle
- 8th - Sheri Linden, The Hollywood ReporterThe Hollywood ReporterFormerly a daily trade magazine, The Hollywood Reporter re-launched in late 2010 as a unique hybrid publication serving the entertainment industry and a consumer audience...
- 9th - David AnsenDavid AnsenDavid Ansen is a reviewer and senior editor for Newsweek, where he has been reviewing movies since 1977. He came to Newsweek after several years as the chief film critic at Boston's The Real Paper...
, NewsweekNewsweekNewsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
(tied with WALL-EWALL-EWALL-E, promoted with an interpunct as WALL•E, is a 2008 American computer-animated science fiction film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and directed by Andrew Stanton. The story follows a robot named WALL-E, who is designed to clean up a waste-covered Earth far in the future...
) - 9th - Frank Scheck, The Hollywood ReporterThe Hollywood ReporterFormerly a daily trade magazine, The Hollywood Reporter re-launched in late 2010 as a unique hybrid publication serving the entertainment industry and a consumer audience...
- 9th - Joe MorgensternJoe MorgensternJoe Morgenstern is a Pulitzer Prize-winning film critic for The Wall Street Journal.-Career:Morgenstern graduated from Lehigh University in 1953. His first journalism experience was as news clerk at the New York Times...
, The Wall Street JournalThe Wall Street JournalThe Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal.... - 9th - Peter Rainer, The Christian Science MonitorThe Christian Science MonitorThe Christian Science Monitor is an international newspaper published daily online, Monday to Friday, and weekly in print. It was started in 1908 by Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of the Church of Christ, Scientist. As of 2009, the print circulation was 67,703.The CSM is a newspaper that covers...
- 9th - Rick Groen , The Globe and MailThe Globe and MailThe Globe and Mail is a nationally distributed Canadian newspaper, based in Toronto and printed in six cities across the country. With a weekly readership of approximately 1 million, it is Canada's largest-circulation national newspaper and second-largest daily newspaper after the Toronto Star...
- 10th - Kenneth TuranKenneth TuranKenneth Turan is an American film critic and Lecturer in the Master of Professional Writing Program at the University of Southern California.-Background:...
, Los Angeles TimesLos Angeles TimesThe Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
(tied with WALL-E) - 10th - Lou LumenickLou LumenickLouis J. "Lou" Lumenick is an American film critic. He is the chief film critic and a blogger for the New York Post and has reviewed films there since 1999.-Life and career:Lumenick was born and raised in Astoria, Queens...
, New York PostNew York PostThe New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions... - 10th - Scott Foundas, LA WeeklyLA WeeklyLA Weekly is a free weekly tabloid-sized "alternative weekly" in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1978 by Editor/Publisher Jay Levin and a board of directors that included actor-producer Michael Douglas...
(tied with WALL-E)
It was also ranked #34 in Empire
Empire (magazine)
Empire is a British film magazine published monthly by Bauer Consumer Media. From the first issue in July 1989, the magazine was edited by Barry McIlheney and published by Emap. Bauer purchased Emap Consumer Media in early 2008...
magazine's "The 100 Best Films Of World Cinema" in 2010, and #4 in Current TV
Current TV
Current TV, or Current, is a media company led by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore and businessman Joel Hyatt. Comcast owns a ten percent stake of Current's parent company, Current Media LLC....
's "50 Documentaries to See Before You Die
50 Documentaries to See Before You Die
50 Documentaries to See Before You Die is a five-episode television series presented by Morgan Spurlock on the Current TV television network featuring what editors regard as the fifty of the most influential and/or important documentary films from the past 25 years.- "Life After Donkey Kong":* 50....
" in 2011.
Awards and nominations
Waltz with Bashir became the first animated film to have received a nomination for either an Academy Award or a Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film. It also became first Israeli Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film winner since The PolicemanThe Policeman
The Policeman is the international release title of a 1971 Israeli feature film, written and directed by satirist Ephraim Kishon. Its Hebrew title is HaShoter Azoulay . The title character is played by Shaike Ophir The Policeman is the international release title of a 1971 Israeli feature film,...
(1971), and the first documentary film to win the award.
It was unsuccessfully submitted for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature
Academy Award for Best Animated Feature
The Academy Award for Best Animated Feature is one of the annual awards given by the Los Angeles-based professional organization, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences...
nomination, and became ineligible for the Academy Award for Documentary Feature
Academy Award for Documentary Feature
The Academy Award for Documentary Feature is among the most prestigious awards for documentary films.- Winners and nominees:Following the Academy's practice, films are listed below by the award year...
when the Academy announced its new rule to nominate only documentaries which have had a qualifying run in both New York and Los Angeles by August 31.
The film was also included in the National Board of Review
National Board of Review Awards 2008
The 80th National Board of Review Awards, honoring the best in film for 2008, were given on 4 December 2008.-Top 10 films:*Burn After Reading*Changeling*The Curious Case of Benjamin Button*The Dark Knight*Defiance*Frost/Nixon...
's Top Foreign Films list. Ari Folman won the WGA
Writers Guild of America
The Writers Guild of America is a generic term referring to the joint efforts of two different US labor unions:* The Writers Guild of America, East , representing TV and film writers East of the Mississippi....
's Best Documentary Feature Screenplay award and the DGA
Directors Guild of America
Directors Guild of America is an entertainment labor union which represents the interests of film and television directors in the United States motion picture industry...
's Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary award for creating the film. Folman also received nominations for Annie Awards and BAFTA Awards for Best Animated Feature, but lost both award to Kung Fu Panda
Kung Fu Panda
Kung Fu Panda is a 2008 American computer-animated action comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Paramount Pictures...
and WALL-E
WALL-E
WALL-E, promoted with an interpunct as WALL•E, is a 2008 American computer-animated science fiction film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and directed by Andrew Stanton. The story follows a robot named WALL-E, who is designed to clean up a waste-covered Earth far in the future...
.
- Academy Awards81st Academy AwardsThe 81st Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences , honored the best films of 2008 and took place February 22, 2009, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles beginning at 5:30 p.m. PST / 8:30 p.m. EST...
:- Best Foreign Language Film (nominated)
- Animafest Zagreb:
- Grand Prize (won)
- Annie Awards36th Annie AwardsThe 36th Annual Annie Awards, honoring the best in animation for 2008, were held on January 30, 2009 at Royce Hall in Los Angeles, California. Below is a list of announced nominees...
:- Best Animated Feature (nominated)
- Directing in an Animated Feature Production (Ari Folman, nominated)
- Music in an Animated Feature Production (Max RichterMax Richter (Composer)Max Richter is a German-born British composer.-Biography:Richter studied composition and piano at University of Edinburgh, the Royal Academy of Music and with Luciano Berio in Florence. After finishing his studies, Richter co-founded the contemporary classical ensemble Piano Circus...
, nominated) - Writing in an Animated Feature Production (Ari Folman, nominated)
- Asia Pacific Screen AwardsAsia Pacific Screen AwardsThe Asia Pacific Screen Awards is an international cultural initiative of the State Government of Queensland, Australia, through Events Queensland, to honour and promote the films, actors, directors, and cultures of Asia-Pacific to a global audience and to realise the objectives of UNESCO to...
:- Best Animated Film (won)
- BAFTA Awards62nd British Academy Film AwardsThe 62nd British Academy Film Awards, hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, took place on 8 February 2009, and honoured the best films of 2008.-Best Actor:Mickey Rourke – The Wrestler*Frank Langella – Frost/Nixon...
:- Best Film Not in the English Language (nominated)
- Best Animated Film (nominated)
- Bodil AwardsBodil AwardsThe Bodil Awards are the major Danish film awards given by Denmark's National Association of Film Critics . The awards are presented annually at a ceremony in the Imperial Cinema in Copenhagen. Established in 1948, it is one of the oldest film awards in Europe...
:- Best Non-American Film (won)
- Boston Society of Film Critics AwardsBoston Society of Film Critics Awards 2008The 29th Boston Society of Film Critics Awards, honoring the best in filmmaking in 2008, were given on December 14, 2008.-Winners:*Best Film :**Slumdog Millionaire**WALL·E**Runner-up: Milk*Best Actor :**Sean Penn – Milk...
:- Best Foreign Language Film (runner-up)
- Best Animated Film (runner-up)
- British Independent Film AwardsBritish Independent Film Awards 2008The 11th British Independent Film Awards, held on 30 November 2008 at the Old Billingsgate Market in London, honoured the best British independent films of 2008.-Best British Independent Film:* Slumdog Millionaire* Hunger* In Bruges...
:- Best Foreign Independent Film (won)
- Broadcast Film Critics AwardsBroadcast Film Critics Association Awards 2008The 14th Critics' Choice Awards were presented on Thursday, January 8, 2009 at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium to honor the finest achievements in 2008 filmmaking.Nominees were announced on December 9, 2008.-Best Film:Slumdog Millionaire...
:- Best Foreign Language Film (
- Best Animated Film (nominated)
2008 Cannes Film Festival
The 61st Annual Cannes Film Festival was held from May 14 to May 25, 2008. In addition to films selected for competition this year, major Hollywood productions such as Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and Kung Fu Panda had their world premieres at the festival.The British press...
:
- Palme d'Or (nominated)
César Awards 2009
The 34th Annual César Awards ceremony was held by the Académie des Arts et Techniques du Cinéma to honor its selection of the best films of 2008 on February 27, 2009. Canal+ broadcast the event, which took place again at Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, France...
:
- Best Foreign Film (
Chicago Film Critics Association Awards 2008
The 21st Chicago Film Critics Association Awards, given by the CFCA on December 18, 2008, honored the best in film for 2008. Disney/Pixar's WALL-E became the most successful film on this years' ceremony, won four awards, including Best Film, out of five nominations...
:
- Best Animated Film (nominated)
Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Awards 2008
The 15th Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Awards, given by the Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association on December 17, 2008, honored the best in film for 2008.-Top 10 films:# Slumdog Millionaire# Milk# The Dark Knight...
:
- Best Documentary (nominated)
- Best Foreign Language Film (nominated)
Directors Guild of America Awards 2008
The 61st Directors Guild of America Awards, which was given on January 31, 2009, honors the outstanding directorial achievements in films, documentary and televisions...
:
- Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary (Ari Folman, won)
European Film Awards 2008
The 21st Annual European Film Awards took place on December 6, 2008 in Copenhagen, Denmark.-Best European Actor: Toni Servillo - Gomorrah and Il Divo Michael Fassbender - Hunger Thure Lindhardt and Mads Mikkelsen - Flame & Citron James McAvoy - Atonement Jürgen Vogel - The Wave Elmar Wepper -...
:
- Best Film (nominated)
- Best Composer (Max Richter,
Festival du Nouveau Cinéma
The Festival du Nouveau Cinéma was known as the Montreal Festival of New Cinema and New Media until 2004. Founded in 1971, by Claude Chamberlan and Dimitri Eipides, it is an annual independent film festival held in Montreal and features independent films from around the world...
:
- Daniel Langlois Innovation Award (won)
- Gijón International Film FestivalGijón International Film FestivalGijón International Film Festival was created in 1963. It was born as an initiative of the local authority and it was sponsored mainly by Gijón City Council and the then Caja de Ahorros de Asturias ; both institutions are still the main organisers of the festival, along with funding from the...
:- Best Art Direction (Yoni Goodman,
- Youth Jury, Feature (won)
66th Golden Globe Awards
The 66th Golden Globe Awards Ceremony was broadcast on January 11, 2009, from the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California, United States on the NBC TV network...
:
- Best Foreign Language Film (won)
- Best Film Not in the English Language (
International Documentary Association
International Documentary Association , founded in 1982, is a non-profit organization promoting documentary film, video and new media, to support the efforts of documentary filmmaking and video production makers around the world and to increase public appreciation and demand for the art of the...
:
- Feature Documentary (won, tied with Man on WireMan on WireMan on Wire is a 2008 British documentary film directed by James Marsh. The film chronicles Philippe Petit's 1974 high-wire walk between the Twin Towers of New York's World Trade Center. It is based on Philippe Petit's book, To Reach the Clouds, recently released in paperback with the new title...
)
- Breakout Composer of the Year (Max Richter, nominated)
- Best Original Score for an Animated Feature (Max Richter, nominated)
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards 2008
The 34th Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards, given by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association , honored the best in film for 2008...
:
- Best Animated Film (won)
- Best Documentary/Non-Fiction Film (runner-up)
National Society of Film Critics Awards 2008
The 43rd National Society of Film Critics Awards, given on 3 January 2009, honored the best filmmaking of 2008.-Best Picture::1. Waltz with Bashir 2. Happy-Go-Lucky2. WALL•E-Best Director::...
:
- Best Film (
- Best Film (won)
- Best Director (Ari Folman, won)
- Best Screenplay (Ari Folman, won)
- Best Artistic Design (David Polonsky, won)
- Best Editing (Nili Feller, won)
- Best Sound Design (Aviv Aldema, won)
- Best Cinematography (Yoni Goodman, nominated)
Palic Film Festival
Palić Film Festival is the European film festival that takes place in the town of Palić . As of 2011 , it was held 18 times.-External links:**...
:
- Golden Tower (
Satellite Awards 2008
The winners of the 13th Annual Satellite Awards, honoring the best in film and television in 2008, were announced on December 14, 2008.-Top 10 films:*Ballast*Changeling*Doubt*The Dark Knight*Frost/Nixon*Frozen River*Milk...
:
- Best Animated or Mixed Media Film (nominated)
- Best Documentary Film (nominated)
Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival
Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Tallinn, Estonia...
:
- Special Jury Prize (
Tokyo Filmex
Tokyo Filmex is an annual film festival established in 2000. This film festival was launched by Office Kitano, which is Takeshi Kitano's film company.For now, Office Kitano remains as one of the main partners for Tokyo Filmex....
:
- Grand Prize (won)
Utah Film Critics Association
The Utah Film Critics Association is an organization of cinema journalists affiliated with publications, broadcasting stations and online media based in Utah...
:
- Best Non-English Language Feature (runner-up)
- Best Documentary Feature (runner-up)
Writers Guild of America Awards 2008
The 61st Writers Guild of America Awards honored the best film, television, and videogame writers of 2008. Winners were announced on February 7, 2009.-Best Adapted Screenplay:...
:
- Best Documentary Feature Screenplay (Ari Folman, won)
See also
- Beaufort (film)Beaufort (film)Beaufort is a 2007 Israeli war film. The film was directed by Joseph Cedar and was co-written by Cedar and Ron Leshem, based on Leshem's If there's a Heaven...
- Cup Final (film)Cup Final (film)Cup Final is a 1991 Israeli film set during the 1982 invasion of Lebanon by Israel.-Plot:A young Israeli soldier, Cohen, is kidnapped by a group of Palestinian fighters who hold him as an hostage during the conflict...
- Lebanon (2009 film)
- Bashir Gemayel
- List of animated feature-length films
- Post traumatic stress disorder