Since I'm doing my paper on Waltz with Bashir this journal is pulling double-duty this week because I get to talk about some of the things I've read about the film. I like documentaries; I like animation; putting the two together makes for a really interesting experience. Even so the first time I saw the film I didn't think too much about that fact this it was animated beyond being amused by it and analyzing the techniques they used.
In fighting to keep my paper very connected to the film (instead of writing a history paper on the Lebanese Wars) I stumbled across a fantastic interview with Ari Folman (the director). What he has to say about why he choose animation made a great deal of sense to me and adds another layer of meaning to the viewing experience.
Ari Folman Find Freedom in Animation - Steve Erickson
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Erickson: What led you to decide to make an animated documentary about your memories?
Folman: I thought that animation is the only way to tell this story, with memories, lost memories, dreams and the subconscious. If you want to feel any freedom as a filmmaker to go from one dimension to another, I thought the best way to do it was animation.
Erickson: Several of your interview subjects say they got through war by acting like they were watching a movie. Did that influence your approach?
Folman: Definitely. War is like a very bad acid trip, if you’ve ever experienced it. I wanted the audience to go through this experience in a dimension that you don’t know. It’s completely different from your everyday life. The design of the animation is intended to produce this effect. From the very opening, when you see dogs running through the streets of Tel Aviv, you’re in this very unpleasant hallucination. Then it goes deeper and deeper until it reaches the documentary footage of the massacre.
Erickson: Was it always your intent to end the film with that video footage?
Folman: Yes. I didn’t want anyone to leave the theater thinking “This is a very cool animated movie with great drawings and music.” I wanted people to understand this really happened. Thousands of people died that weekend. Most of them were kids, unprotected women and old people. It puts the whole film into proportion and perspective. I felt I had to do it. It seems longer than it is. It’s only 50 seconds."
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I recommend reading the whole interview linked above as these are only three questions I picked out. Thinking back on the first time I watched it, yes, there was a definite bad acid-trip feel to the opening. The film simply would have been hard pressed to get that message across to me as a viewer if it was done in live-action. The last scene composed on actual footage is all the more disturbing by contrast.
'Waltz with Basir' definitely seems like an interesting topic for a paper. I see you are quite familiar with the Lebanon War, so those connections won't be hard for you to come across. As the interview points out, there is a lot to be said about the artwork and how it reflects the author's thoughts about the experience. I also think you may want to briefly touch on the psychological issues brought up in the film such as trauma, repressed memory, and dissociation. Just my two cents.
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