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Waltz with Bashir - Ron Ben-Yishai, Ronny Dayag, Ari Folman, Ari Folman

Threat advisory: Elevated - Significant risk of entertaining activities

Movie propaganda

One night at a bar, an old friend tells director Ari Folman about a recurring nightmare in which he is chased by 26 vicious dogs. Every night, the same number of beasts. The two men conclude that there's a connection to their Israeli Army mission in the first Lebanon War of the early eighties.

Ari is surprised that he can't remember a thing any more about that period of his life. Intrigued by this riddle, he decides to meet and interview old friends and comrades around the world. He needs to discover the truth about that time and about himself. As Ari delves deeper and deeper into the mystery, his memory begins to creep up in surreal images.

Theatrical propaganda posters

Waltz with Bashir theatrical one sheet image

Target demographic movie keyword propaganda

Film animation documentary Israel Hebrew Army Lebanon war Post Traumatic Stress Disorder memory recover

Persons of interest

Ron Ben-Yishai .... Himself
Ronny Dayag .... Himself
Ari Folman .... Himself
Dror Harazi .... Himself
Yehezkel Lazarov .... Carmi Cna'an
Mickey Leon .... Boaz Rein-Buskila
Ori Sivan .... Himself
Zahava Solomon .... Herself
Ari Folman .... Screenwriter
Ari Folman .... Director

Cinematic intelligence sources

Waltz with Bashir official movie site
Waltz with Bashir film production notes
Waltz with Bashir QuickTime movie trailers
Awards and film festivals:

British Independent Film Awards 2008: Won: Best Foreign Independent Film
Cannes Film Festival 2008: Nominated: Golden Palm (Ari Folman)
Golden Trailer Awards 2008: Nominated: Best Anime Trailer
London Film Festival 2008: Screening
Melbourne International Film Festival 2008: Screening

NB: Hebrew and German language dialogue with English language subtitles
Studios and distributors:

Sharmill Films

Intelligence analyst

Special Agent Matti

Theatrical report

Wow! The animation in Waltz with Bashir is great! The war violence is awesome while the interviews are so detailed that it's hard to remember that you're watching a cartoon. In some instances the colouring is stunning, at other times it is so dry and dusty that you find yourself desperate for something to wet your whistle.

Clearly, the protagonist, who is something of an "EveryJew" is suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, brought about by the evils that people can get away with committing during war and left to fester by poor debriefing from the Israeli military. I doubt that any army has debriefed its warriors with any true thoughts toward making them sane. Why would they bother? Ex-soldiers are not their concern (See also Stop Loss).

Something else that comes through clearly is the camaraderie of young men thrown together to fight for their lives with far less information than they need to survive. "Fog of war" my arse, it's all about power-hungry politicians, egotistic generals and poor communication skills.

Waltz with Bashir is a surprisingly subtle journey of discovery through the horrors of war and the suffering of the surviving soldiers. Someone once said that living is harder than dying. Ari Folman certainly agrees.

The animation, documentary, Israel movie Waltz with Bashir is directed by Ari Folman and stars Ron Ben-Yishai, Ronny Dayag, Ari Folman.