Waltz with Bashir: A Lebanon War Story

Reading Waltz With Bashir has been an interesting experience. Initially I was under the impression that it was a graphic novel based on a live-action movie, but as I came to learn more of the graphic novel's history I realized that this is a direct film-to-book translation of an animated piece. Each panel is captured from the film and given English dialogue. Despite my general dislike for book adaptations of movies, Waltz With Bashir actually works, because as a graphic novel it is as visually stimulating as a film might be and had an immense impact on me as a reader.

Waltz With Bashir follows a man named Folman, one of the authors, actually, who has begun having strange and terrible dreams related to his involvement in the 1982 Lebanon show more War. But he can't remember anything from the war beyond vague details and sets out to unravel the pieces to finally achieve some semblance of piece in his sleep. In doing so, however,
he begins to discover things about himself and the war that he would much rather forget.

Waltz With Bashir is clearly an emotional piece, and it successfully strikes home the feeling of regret and terror that comes with war, and especially with particularly bloody ones. While the story never fully completes itself--Folman never recalls his past in its entirety--Waltz With Bashir does give us a detailed glimpse into the world of a modern day soldier in the Middle East.

Particularly touching, for me, were the last few pages of the book, which showed real pictures from the events described by Folman in his memories. These are, to say the least, disturbing precisely because they are real images, not doctored or staged photos--at least, I assume they're not staged. The vast majority of us in the U.S. and other Western countries have not experienced the darker aspects of war, and probably never will. Waltz With Bashir, however, is a graphic novel that wants us to see these things; it wants to pull us out of our comfort zones to relay reality.

Already I am a fan of this piece. While the artwork has a tendency to be a tad simplistic, the merger of real backgrounds with drawn figures is a welcome change from the more typical styles of comic art. And while Waltz With Bashir may not be science fiction or fantasy, I think readers here will enjoy not only the movie, but this graphic novel, because it manages to do what few graphic novels have done successfully: tell a self-contained, deep, and detailed story that is aware of the psychological conditions of its characters. This one is definitely worth picking up! show less

What do you do when you find yourself in a situation which will potentially drive you out of your mind? What will your brain do? How will your brain rescue your sanity if you realize that you are enabling the carrying out of a horrible crime? Basically, this is what Ari Folman's story is about.

For Folman, it comes as quite a shock when a friend mentions horrible nightmares, spawning from his time in Lebanon and it makes Folman wonder, "Why don't I remember any of this?" But then, suddenly, he gets a flash, an image of himself emerging from the sea and walking through the Sabra and Shatila camps. So, he sets off to talk to other people who were in Lebanon with him in order to find some clarity, or truth, of what really happened. Folman show more uses a friend who is a psychologist as a sounding board for his discoveries, and this friend will partially explain the holes in Folman's memory - if they are indeed holes.

As a story of this particular war, it'll break your heart. More importantly though, as a story of what happens to those individuals who are a part of the atrocities that the lucky ones of us only have to experience through TV, it's a criticism that should shake you to the core. A war, any war, does not only take people's lives, it destroys the very soul of mankind.

This graphic novel is made in conjunction with Folman's animated documentary of the same name. show less

It's hard to imagine a film that better fits the true/false dichotomy than this Israeli hybrid, in which writer-director Ari Folman weaves together investigative journalism, personal essay and contemporary Middle Eastern history with startling, often surrealistic animated imagery. Inspired by his own repressed memories of Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon, which he participated in as a 19-year-old foot soldier, Folman spins a mind-bending, soulful and compelling tale of war, memory, trauma and lost innocence. The story follows Folman as he revisits the invasion, which culminates with a terrifying massacre in a Lebanese refugee camp. Waltz's voiceover is grounded in fact, comprised of real interviews with Folman's buddies, as well as show more with politicians and historians, but the imagery is otherworldly: rabid dogs rampaging through Tel Aviv; a bosomy green sea goddess carrying a seasick soldier across troubled waters. Vivid, provocative and innovative, this example of new-form war journalism — an Oscar nominee and most honored film of 2008 — pushes the outer limits of documentary filmmaking to unforgettable effect. (JS)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1185616/?ref_=sr_1 show less

A graphic novel adaptation of a animated film of one of the more tragic, and horrific, incidents in a war that was filled with such things. When a friend casually mentions an incident in Lebanon, Ari Folman wonder why he remembers nothing of it. But soon his quest for the truth leads Ari to a slow, terrible re-discovery of memories of that war. And one particular memory that will haunt the reader as much as it does Folman.

A man who fought in the Lebanon War gradually regains his memory of his part in a massacre. He visits several of his war buddies and several psychologists along the way. The book is about the mad moments of war and how it affects young people. I think this was made into a film. There is some hint of real photos in the artwork, especially some shocking ones at the end when details become clearer. Not as good as Joe Sacco's work, with which it's been compared.

Waltz with Bashir is a stunning commentary on war. The art is spectacular and this first person account from Ari Folman is engaging and heartbreaking.

Precise and beautiful drawings telling an awful story (1980s massaacre of Palestinians in Lebanon refuge camps)