Waltz with Bashir Not Israel’s Last Tango

Last night I went (perhaps mistakenly) with a very Left Wing Zionist friend to see the Oscar nominated Israeli movie Waltz with Bashir. It is a disturbing personal account of the director, Ari Folman’s, attempt 20 years later, to piece together what had happened to him during the 1982 Lebanon war.

The distinguishing feature of the film is its use of animation. The story plays out through comic book type images of people Folman serviced with during the war. I found the movie to be as one dimensional as the pictures on the scene. No attempt is made to examine in depth any aspect of the actual conflict. No questions are posed about why Israel is there and who they are fighting. There is no allusion even to the terrible internal rifts that the war created back home. Or even an acknowledgement of how so little has changed in the region now 20 years on. Little sympathy is shown for the young Israelis soldiers that gave their lives in that conflict and even less for the Palestinian and Lebanese victims. It is just a shallow and self-centered quest by Folman to remember the details of his tour of duty, details he purposefully had blocked out.

I have to say that all in all it was a fairly accurate depiction of what happened during the war. The Sabra Shatila massacres obviously loom large. But care is taken to show and explain that it was ultimately the Christian Falangist militia and not the IDF that did the actual killing. Of course given the horrific scenes of murder and destruction, one cannot but ask if Israel could not have done more to stop the killings. Sadly the characters don’t really help us grabble much with this issue.

I came away from this very average film with Golda Meir’s famous words “we can forgive the Arab’s for killing our children but we cannot forgive them for forcing us to kill their children” ringing in my mind. We often forget the terrible psychological cost the 2 asymmetrical wars and 2 intifadas since Lebanon have caused for those who took part. We are quick to see the risks that a peace agreement poses (rockets being fired on Israel from the West Bank for example) but all too often fail to take into account the risks posed by the status quo.

I left the movie house angry not at Israel, its soldiers or its filmmakers but her enemies. Those like Hamas and Hezbollah who continue to force the Jewish state to live by the sword. Those who shoot from schools and apartment blocks, place Israeli soldiers in the cruel position of having to kill innocent civilians to save the lives of their own troops and citizens.

My Leftwing friend felt completely differently. He too was angry, but first with Menachim Began, then with Arik Sharon, then every Israeli government minus Rabin’s during the Oslo years came in for attack. “Why have we continued to fight these immoral wars? Did we not see the horrors of Lebanon?”, he shouted. “If only Israel would push harder for peace we would not need to live like this”. I shot back that the Left lived in a dream world where peace could be a unilateral act. All the wishing in the world could not turn the Palestinians into Norwegians or Danes. They need to want peace and be willing to make the concessions necessary for peace, just as Israel has.

Sadly, Waltz with Bashir will not be the last film made about the impact of Israel’s wars on its own soldiers. An honest reading of the situation in the region tends to indicate that there are more Lebanons and more Gazas to come. Not because Israel, now under a right wing government, will seek out bloodshed and conflict (as my friend may believe) but because Israel’s enemies still have not learnt as Golda Meir also said “to love their children more than they hate us”.

Comments

[Benjamin]

I also saw Waltz with Bashir recently. Purely in terms of cinematography and animation it is excellently executed. I thought the story was average, 7/10.

Mike, you are unfair to center your critique on what the film doesn't address. The main theme is of personal memory and the reliving of trauma. It is not a political film and doesn't set to answer questions on reasons for the war or the current situation. It doesn't say anything new about the Sabra and Shatila Massacre and follows fairly closely the conclusions of the Kahan commission. It is like critiquing the English Patient for not going into the complexities of WW2.

Personally. I left the movie, thinking that in twenty five years I would be watching another movie of another traumatized life. Wondering, what I have been wondering for a while, where does all this end?

[Steve]

Benjamin, where did you see it? Is it showing in SA? Nevou (sp?) perhaps?

[Benjamin]

A bootlegged copy from a friend. Sorry. I missed the Oscars but if it got nominated or won it might get released in SA. The next Israeli film festival at Nouveau, I would think, should screen it.

[Steve]

It got nominated but didn't win.

[Shaun]

“Waltz” is just like all the other Israeli movies made over the past 15 years that depicts IDF soldiers as post traumatic wimps?
See also Yossi and Jagger, Abufour (Beaufort) , Two fingers from Sidon and others

The vast majority of IDF soldiers who saw combat in Lebanon, from 1982 until 2000 are fully functioning members of society.

How about a film that focuses on the “RPG children”
These were Arafat’s famous Tiger Cub’s squads... 10 year old children who were given anti-tank rocket to shoot at Israeli vehicles in Lebanon.
Unlike what happened in the movie “Waltz”, the majority of these children killed themselves because they didn’t know how to correctly shoot the missiles or they were not strong enough to withstand the blast recoil.
Better yet, let’s talk about having peace with people who would do this to their own children.

[Gary]

Of course, this will be passed over, as the real issues so often are on this bolg. but the question should not be whether the Israelis could have done more to prevent the Palestinians (only a small portion of these were actually women and children)being killed at Sabra and Shatilla, but instead the 100 000 Christians killed in the 7 years before by the PLO and Syrians, what the Christian Lebanese endured at the hands of the Palestinians, the draining of blood of young Christian Lebanese for transfusion to Palestinian terrorists, have you heard of the massacre at Damour , Mike?
Probabley not.

[Gary]

Funny, I keep posting messages but they keep never appearing on this blog.
Has it been overtaken by the politically correct thought police?

[Mike]

Gary, I have. I didnt mention it in my post but after the movie that was one of the first points I brought up. The Palestinians are not the angels those on the far left would have them be. I thought I made the point clear in the post.

no thought police I promise. we are experiencing heavy traffic lately. thats could be the reason for the technical problems posting. But Steve would know more about that than me.

[Lawrence]

yeah Gary there have been technical problems here of late. I sent a post through on another thread the other day and it never went through, and I tried several times. It happens, ISP problems, router problems or something.

As for Bashir, I am actually the only person over the age of 12 in Israel who has not seen it, I think. I actually have a DVD copy that I bought, but I haven't got round to watching it yet. But everybody has an opinion on it, I can't think of an Israeli film that has been talked about like this...ever. Man I must watch it this week...

[Steve]

Interesting to know that it has chalked up such a storm. Lawrence, I went to look for comments from Gary mistakenly marked as spam and when I did so I found the one you referring to. I published it. I didn't find any from Gary though.

[Gary]

Oh, I had though, that I had been put by you and Mike, into a special quarantine system whereby my comments (and only my comments) would be quarantined until approved.