Sketch for Waltz with Bashir

Must Know

The film Waltz with Bashir is defined by the creators as an animated documentary, some define it though as a feature-length film. The plot of the film focuses on the experiences of the director and his friend during the massacre in Sabra and Shatila in Lebanon in 1982 and deals with questions such as responsibility and guilt. The film drew many reactions both from the public and from the press. On the one hand, the film was perceived as a Pro-Palestinian work which emphasizes the full responsibility of Israel, but on the other hand, as a film which set the soldiers who had taken part of the massacre free from this responsibility.
The film consists of animated pieces which were created in the cooperation between illustrator David Polonsky and animation director Yoni Goodman. This film is the second full-length animated film made in Israel. Due to a limited budget, the animation was created with the help of the cutout method, i.e. by the use of props or paper cuts whose movement is created manually between each shot. This method renewed the cinematic language globally in many aspects: the doku, the animation, and what is more, also the representation of memory and trauma on the screen. The film was adapted into a graphic novel in 2009 and it was published in english and translated into French and hebrew.
Even 10 years after the release of the film, as of 2018, the film appears in the best contemporary cinema charts in the english-speaking media. Abroad the film was a great success, but in Israel just a few went to see it in the cinema.