'Waltz With Bashir':
by Delfin Vigil
Friday, January 2, 2009
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/01/02/PKC014SEJD.DTL
Israeli director Ari Folman has just made the most powerful film of his life.
Called "Waltz With Bashir," the movie is about how
Folman, a former Israeli soldier, uncovered long-
repressed memories of witnessing the massacre of women,
children and other innocent civilians in
the 1982
more mesmerizing than typical war documentaries is that
it tells the story through graphic animation, making it
nearly irresistible to stare at scenes that, in another
form, would have most viewers turning their heads away.
Since its release overseas earlier this year, "Waltz
With Bashir" has been referred to by critics as the
film equivalent to Art Spiegelman's "Maus." It was the
sleeper hit at last year's
won the best foreign film prize at the British
Independent Film Awards. It has been nominated for a
Golden Globe and is
"My life has changed tremendously in the past eight
months," says a fidgety and exhausted Folman, who walks
through the Prescott Hotel lobby and conference room as
if still stretching his legs in an airplane cabin. "In
Israel, I can hardly go to public events, parties, or
weddings. I find myself sitting in the corner with
someone I've never met before. I have to hear all those
horrific war stories because people feel the urge to
talk after seeing the film. Lots of women tell me it's
the first time they understand what war is. That they
now understand their husbands or sons."
Folman sighs and rubs his face as if he has just woken up.
"But this is much better," he says, "than people ignoring your film."
Talking about his own war stories, which he only
recently rediscovered, is surprisingly easy for Folman
now. As the story in the film goes, an old army buddy
calls Folman to talk about nightmares he's had in
connection with the war. It's then that Folman realizes
that he has no memories of that part of his life. With
the film acting as a catalyst, Folman interviews and
converses with friends, and the horrors of war
gradually come back to him.
The viewer is left wondering what was more frightening
- not having memories or rediscovering them.
"Not having memories is not frightening at all," says
Folman, who, with his barrel chest and burly beard,
could pass for a rugby player or soap opera star. "I
think suppressing memories is not such a bad idea. It
helps a lot of people go on with their lives. It's not
bad. You can live a full life without dealing with your
past obsessively. For some, it doesn't work. So they
deal with it obsessively. Sometimes it works for you
until one day, like in this film, things change and you
can't go backward. You can't pretend to be suppressed
anymore, and you have to deal with it."
Dealing with the intense imagery of war through comic-
book-style illustrations made the process easier for Folman.
"Sometimes I see myself like that," he says, pointing
to a poster of his cartoon image. "Sometimes my memory
of the war looks like a comic book. It is surreal because war is surreal."
Going the graphic-illustration route was never a
question in Folman's mind. Because of his choice, some
critics have discredited "Waltz With Bashir" as not
being a true documentary. Folman couldn't care less.
"What is more real," he asks, "digital images made out
of dots and pixels or handmade drawings? The drawings
are much more beautiful, that's for sure. In one way,
the images are terrible. On the other hand, through
this form they are really pretty, and you can't stop watching."
And that's how Folman remembers
perspective that includes a gorgeous resort beach,
fancy hotels and a sleek airport. It's only on closer
examination of the city that viewers zoom in to an
understanding that the town is deserted, has been
ransacked, and is plagued with death and destruction.
Folman says he grew up in a good family and was raised
as a spoiled child. He never saw any violence or filth.
Even when he entered the army as a teenager, the first
two years of infantry exercises felt more like playing
games and having fun with new friends than preparing
for battle. But within six hours of seeing combat in
Lebanon, he was suddenly burying those same friends,
and the "games" became a serious business.
"I'd look around and think, 'What am I doing here? How
does
different country. It has nothing to do with me. I'm
not defending home now. I'm not defending my little
sisters back home,' " Folman says. "From that first
evening I sat down and thought, 'I have no goals in
life other than getting out of here without a scratch.'"
War is horrible - that's the conclusion Folman came to
after uncovering that first memory, and that's the only
message in "Waltz With Bashir," he says.
It's a message he repeats to his three children
whenever they ask to buy a plastic toy gun or violent
video game. It's also the ultimate message that
Folman's younger self relayed to the present-day
director after the two very different parts of his life
were finally reconnected. Folman likens the odd
relationship he has with his past self to what it would
be like to run into a former lover after several years
and realize that there are no feelings there anymore.
"One day," he says, "you walk down the street and meet
her and wonder, 'Do I even know her?' "
Folman looks back at the comic-book image of himself on
the movie poster and lets out a slight, sarcastic laugh.
"Before I started this film, I had nothing to do with
this guy," he says. "I knew him. I could recognize him.
But it was not me. Not in a silly New Age way of
thinking. But today I do feel more connected to the guy
I used to be when I was 19."
To see a trailer for "Waltz With Bashir," go to www.links.sfgate.com/ZFSZ.
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