Waltz with Bashir

One of the more interesting animated films you are likely to see, Waltz with Bashir combines a surreal animation technique with a mixture of some actual recounts of the Sabra and Shatila massacre in 1982. The tragedy saw an undetermined amount of Palestinian refugees shot to death by Phalangist militia while Israeli soldiers camped nearby. Director Ari Folman, who was one of the Israeli soldiers, tries to remember events of the massacre through friend interviews and a visit to a psychologist. Actual interview audio is visualized through arresting animation that is sometimes nightmarish. The film’s only real flaw is that it is too short, and ends suddenly. Folman’s own blurred memory is a statement on how some of the horrifying events of the 1982 Lebanon War have faded from memory. This film is a beautiful looking yet appropriately unpleasant reminder.