waltz with bashir a lebanon war story ari folman

“We were kind of unaware of a lot that was going on,” he comments about another experience. We’re just firing like madmen till nightfall,” Folman recalls of a violent encounter. … But you didn’t carry out the massacre.” Still, Folman’s feelings of guilt-by-association blocked his memories for two long decades.įolman, together with the film’s art director/chief illustrator David Polonsky, recreates the senselessness of war, regardless of whose ‘side’ you are on. “It’s not that you weren’t there, you were. “Against your will, you were cast in the role of Nazi,” Folman’s best friend Ori tells him. Piece by piece, memory by memory, Folman questions friends, colleagues, and experts to painfully and exhaustively help him remember his part in the events of the Lebanon War and ultimately arrives at the massacre at two Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon, Sabra and Shatila.

Leaving his friend, Folman has a flashback for the first time in 20 years “from the night of the massacre … in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps.”

Boaz questions Folman about Folman’s own memories of that terrible time, but Folman can remember nothing: “It’s not in my system. While the subtitle makes this book 1982 Lebanon War-specific, the clear, screaming message from its pages is that this could be any war story, and the results would be equally futile and devastating.Īuthor Ari Folman meets an old friend Boaz for drinks in 2006 Boaz tells Folman about his recurring violent dream that has its origins in the 1982 Lebanon War. That said, this riveting, nightmarish title should be required reading for anyone contemplating going to war, planning war, starting a war, or even just thinking about war … as important as patriotism and serving one’s country is, war should never be an option. I think moving pictures just might send me over the edge. No, I have not seen the film version of this title.

Waltz with bashir a lebanon war story ari folman