Memories are clips or images about events that transpired in the past composing of experiences, situations, or people who made a difference in one way or another in a person’s life. However, some of these memories fade away with time while others recur in a person’s mind. Bad memories end up being nightmares in people’s lives especially if the event that took place was traumatic. The film in question, Waltz with Bashir by Ari Folman blends in memories from soldiers who served in the Lebanon war in the attempt to recreate events that took place. However, the Israel and Lebanon governments chose to omit the war from its history because it would bring traumatic emotions towards the affected parties. Without the historical proof, it would be hard for Ari Folman to back up his story. Apart from that, he does not have any memory of the war, which leads him on a quest in search of answers. The film shows how one can use animation to blur the lines between memory and history.
The film starts with a pack of dogs running across the town, causing chaos to whomever they come across. They stop in front of a building and bark at a man standing by the window (Folman, Waltz With Bashir: An Ari Folman Film). The scene turns out to be a narrative which Folman’s old friend and former soldier tells him in a bar. The illustration shows a troubled man who seems to lack a way out of the problems. However, the visualization is a pigment of Folman’s perspective. The dogs keep haunting him every night, making him depressed with time. He attributes the memory to one night in the army where the commander orders him to kill all the dogs in the neighborhood, as they were a hindrance to the mission. He went across the town killing any dog he saw barking, and he rekindles all the dogs’ facial expression seconds before dying (Folman, Waltz With Bashir: An Ari Folman Film). The animation and narrative bring out the realism as one can imagine undergoing such a brutal experience. The artist illustrates the nightmare as per the narrative; fierce looking dogs yearning for blood. Since the scene is more of a memory, recreating it in real life would not bring out the picture as drawn out by the narrative. Another obstacle would be lack of extra information to back up the soldier’s story. He does not recall where exactly he shot the dogs nor the squad members. It would look more of a forgery if Folman included it in an actual documentary.
Such a scene was the reason behind Folman’s decision in making the documentary as an animation. In an interview for Festival De Cannes, Folman states that he would not be happy if he did the film in a real life video (Folman, Waltz With Bashir p4). Waltz with Bashir was to be an animated documentary since the beginning. He queried the thought of making it in real life and that the documentary would be quite boring as well; he felt it lacked a historical background. Apart from that, interviewing people on a black background as they narrative their thoughts on an event that transpired more than 25 years ago would not please the viewer (Folman, Waltz With Bashir p5). According to him, war scenes are too surreal, and its memory would be tricky to reenact it in real life. Hence, fine illustrations would be ideal for taking the viewer along the memory journey. Folman’s sentiments are evident in other illustrations across the film especially as he tries to remember his side of the story.
The loss of memory by Folman takes him to on a journey in collecting bits and pieces of what he did during the mission. Along the journey, he meets up with a former soldier, currently an accountant, who suffered from nightmares as his first friend (Folman, Waltz With Bashir: An Ari Folman Film). Later on, he meets up with a psychologist who helps him in recovering his memory. According to the psychologist, memories bring about trauma to most of the people who served in the army. The events that took place bother them in their daily lives and cannot be comfortable living with people. During the session, Folman has flashbacks of his time in the army. He remembers being one of the soldiers who shot flares to the sky as a way of illuminating the skies for the army soldiers to enter the refugee camps in Lebanon (Folman, Waltz With Bashir: An Ari Folman Film). He later has relapses of the massacre that took place during the war, a memory that begins to haunt him. In the interview, Folman states that the journey turned out to be a long term therapy as one tries to console themselves from the traumatic memory (Folman, Waltz With Bashir p7). Apart from that, those interviewed reawaken healed wounds. Recreating the scenes in real life would cause more harm to the victims especially those involved in the massacre. The fragments of memory brought out through animation tend to lessen the emotions and trauma.
During his interview with Roni Dayg, there is little information about the massacre and the true mission. Dayg remembers being in the boat with six soldiers and he was feeling seasick (Folman, Waltz With Bashir: An Ari Folman Film). He laid down to sleep and dreamt of a woman in the sea who came to pick him up. The scene’s illustration blends in the narrative with an imaginative woman stepping out of the sea and picks up Dayg. Being a memory, the animation paints a picture of what took place to the viewer. The corresponding scene in the movie shows army soldiers firing their guns. According to Dayg’s narrative, he does not know which town they were at or the targets. Later on, a car approached them, and they began firing at it without confirming who was in it. The shooting progressed further when they saw the door opening (Folman, Waltz With Bashir: An Ari Folman Film). They feared that the people were militia with the aim of defending themselves. After a while, they moved closer to the vehicle to examine it by having a closer view. In it, a family lay lifeless; however, this did not deter the soldiers from moving forwards with their investigations. The scene’s illustration draws out the possible imagery as per Dayg’s perspective. Apart from that, it expresses the emotions Dayg had during the time such as confusion, uncertainty and remorse. Despite the narration by Dayg not being clear, the animation captures the different stages of development. It brings out realism to the scene especially the dream. Recreating the shooting scene would be hard since Dayg does not remember the town, in which they docked, leave alone neither the targets nor the family.
The scenic events of Sabra and Shatila massacre were too brutal that they led to the exclusion from Israelite’s history. The Phalangist forces made their way to Sabra and Shatila refugee camp and killed everyone (Folman, Waltz With Bashir p12). The exact number of those that died in the camp is around 3000 though people fear that the number is quite higher than that. For two days, gunfire and battles ensued in the camps, and it ended on the third day after Israelite women headed towards the Israeli troops in an aim to stop the violence. According to the journalist perspective, the news of the massacre spread across the world, and hundreds of Israelites took to the street in protest over the government (Folman, Waltz With Bashir p12). The unanimous decision to destroy all evidence collected in the massacre led to the loss of historical data. The only way for people to heal from the war wounds was to dispose of any memory. Raz Yosef explores the context of memories and history being a key element in traumas which former soldiers experience in their lifetime.
In his study, Yosef upholds the use of memory in reconstructing the past instead of the history. History keeps repeating itself and telling the story as it was will reopen fresh wounds among the affected parties (Yosef p312). The historical context of Lebanon war would spike the Christians to take up arms and revenge the forefather’s death. Reconciliation between the two groups would be hard and one that would take years before the creation of a solution. Hence, the film focuses less on the war’s history and centers on personal experiences (Yosef p313). The study on individual stress and trauma from the fight show the kind of challenges former soldiers endure in their day-to-day lives. Apart from that, the viewer becomes distance forum the war and dwells on the personal emotions that the soldiers narrate in their stories. Yosef quotes Nora’s contrast memory and history in the context. According to her, memory is life and its lives among the societies. History is a reconstruction of an event or memory, which is incomplete to those seeking answers. It will always bother them even though it will no longer be useful to them. Memory stands out as a present phenomenon while history is the past representation as it calls for critical disclosure and analysis (Yosef p315).
However, others might argue that history plays a similar role to memories and visions. The narratives are pieces of history, which the film director would use as supporting evidence. Apart from that, people know that the massacre happened, and there would be people who would narrate their thoughts as per the time. Hence, if Folman took his time and sought views from other war veterans, he would file his film as a historical event. Moreover, real life filming can portray similar context as the animation. The current technology and skills opened up the film industry to impossible lengths. For instance, computer generated graphics would replace most of the scenes such as the dogs running across the town. Some might argue out that it would be wrong for one to imply that animation would bring out a better blur between memory and history.
Overall, the animation plays an important role in the filming process. The visualizations of narratives tell it all as one can connect easily with the characters. Moreover, the illustrations produce a rich and deep impression of the memories and synchronize it well with reality. It would be hard to portray these events using real life events. Animation helps the director in according to the need to back his findings with the actual footage of the massacre. The destruction of historical items made it hard for him to recreate what transpired during the war. However, Folman’s objective was to tell the story as per the soldier’s experiences, and not from the books findings. Those on the ground had a better viewpoint of what transpired than those who filmed the event. In conclusion, animation in Waltz with Bashir provides a good blend of memories and history as well as a better illustration of the events, which transpired.
Works Cited
Folman, Ari. Waltz With Bashir: An Ari Folman Film Sony Pictures Staff. 2008. Print.
Waltz With Bashir. Dir. Ari Folman. Perf. Ari Folman. 2008. DVD.
Yosef, Raz. "War Fantasies: Memory, Trauma and Ethics in Ari Folman's Waltz With Bashir." Journal of Modern Jewish Studies (2010): 311-326. Print.
