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ואלס עם באשיר
Unlike any other book on war, a graphic novel about one Israeli soldier’s time in Beirut during the massacres at Sabra and Shatila
One night in Beirut in September 1982, while Israeli soldiers secured the area, a Christian militia invaded the refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila and massacred three thousand Palestinians. Ari Folman was one of those Israeli soldiers, but for more than twenty years he remembered nothing of that night. Then came a friend’s disturbing dream and with it Folman’s need to excavate the truth of the war in Lebanon and answer the crucial question: What was he doing during the hours of slaughter at Sabra and Shatila?
Stunningly original in form, Waltz with Bashir follows Folman’s journey deep into the darkness of Beirut. Drawing on the stories of other soldiers and his own returning fragments of memory, Folman painfully and candidly pieces together the war and his place in it: the senselessness of the soldiers’ orders; the fear that pervades every moment; the casual bloodshed of civilians, culminating in the massacres themselves.
The result is a visual work that is as shocking as it is beautiful. An indictment of violence of extraordinary power, Waltz with Bashir will take its place as one of the great works of wartime reportage.
125 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2008
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2274 people want to read
About the author
Ari Folman
5 books126 followersAri Folman is an Israeli film director, screenwriter and film score composer.
He witnessed the aftermath of the 1982 Sabra and Shatila massacre as a 19 year old Israeli soldier. This would serve as the basis of Waltz with Bashir. The film follows his attempt to regain his memories of the war through therapy as well as conversations with old friends and other Israelis that were present in Beirut around the time of the massacre.
Since 2006 he has been the head writer of the Hot 3 drama series Parashat Hashavua.
He witnessed the aftermath of the 1982 Sabra and Shatila massacre as a 19 year old Israeli soldier. This would serve as the basis of Waltz with Bashir. The film follows his attempt to regain his memories of the war through therapy as well as conversations with old friends and other Israelis that were present in Beirut around the time of the massacre.
Since 2006 he has been the head writer of the Hot 3 drama series Parashat Hashavua.
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August 24, 2022
APOCALYPSE NOW
Il film è una seduta psicanalitica travestita da film d'animazione, così bello che ho avuto bisogno di non smettere di guardarlo.
E, quindi, eccomi alla graphic novel.
Non sono rimasto deluso. Tutt’altro.
È magnifica.
La devastante magia di questa storia si è prolungata per le pagine di questo libro.
Il libro, come il film d’animazione, non spiega, ma mostra. La storia è nota, o dovrebbe esserlo: Sabra e Shatila, due campi profughi palestinesi in Libano – l’esercito israeliano guardava e approvava complice la strage condotta dai falangisti cristiani a danno dei civili. Il massacro iniziò fra le 6 del mattino del 16 settembre 1982 e si concluse alle 8 del mattino del 18 settembre nel quartiere di Sabra e nel campo profughi di Shatila, alla periferia ovest di Beirut.
Tragedie dei nostri tempi con armi non convenzionali (il disegno).
Il film è una seduta psicanalitica travestita da film d'animazione, così bello che ho avuto bisogno di non smettere di guardarlo.
E, quindi, eccomi alla graphic novel.
Non sono rimasto deluso. Tutt’altro.
È magnifica.
La devastante magia di questa storia si è prolungata per le pagine di questo libro.
Il libro, come il film d’animazione, non spiega, ma mostra. La storia è nota, o dovrebbe esserlo: Sabra e Shatila, due campi profughi palestinesi in Libano – l’esercito israeliano guardava e approvava complice la strage condotta dai falangisti cristiani a danno dei civili. Il massacro iniziò fra le 6 del mattino del 16 settembre 1982 e si concluse alle 8 del mattino del 18 settembre nel quartiere di Sabra e nel campo profughi di Shatila, alla periferia ovest di Beirut.
Tragedie dei nostri tempi con armi non convenzionali (il disegno).
August 9, 2014
As the current ('14) conflict rages on in Gaza, I am reminded that, in this war, there are only victims. This is also true of the Lebanon conflict of the early '80s, which is the subject of this graphic novel. Yes, there are aggressors, mostly politicians who already enjoy power, goading on the common men and women who actually fight the wars. But on the ground level, where the fighting itself is taking place, there are only victims, regardless of who "wins" the conflict. That's not to take away responsibility for those who commit atrocities like the slaughter of unarmed, innocent Lebanese civilians by "Christian" forces loyal to the then-recently-assassinated Bashir Jumayel, President of Lebanon. Of course, justice must be served against killers. There is no excuse for their actions. But that doesn't mean that when the executioner's axe rightfully falls on them, if it ever did or ever will, that they weren't also victims of those in power over them.
And what of the Israeli soldiers who witnessed the massacre? Are they not to blame for not having stopped the slaughter earlier? Of course. But, as Waltz With Bashir makes apparent, even they are partially punished by the haunting nightmares, the psychological damage of having witnessed what they witnessed and not having done what was necessary to stop it. Perhaps your idea of justice is that these soldiers should swing from the noose for holding off when they could have intervened. But if they had intervened, in a time of war, against orders, they would likely have swung from a noose anyway, for being traitors to the aims of those in power over them. Would that have further satisfied your sense of justice? Would it? Really?
Perhaps. Perhaps not. Each person has to decide for him or herself what is "just" and who to blame for such terrible things. Should political leaders hang for decisions that lead to such slaughter? How exactly does one pin the blame for such things? Who gets to decide? Who is the judge? Is it enough to suffer psychological trauma for the sins one has committed, or must lives be paid for at the cost of more lives?
The lines between who is good and who is evil are muddled by the fog of war. The only thing that is certain is that everyone pays the price of aggression. Everyone who is in an area of violence, whether belligerent or innocent, is, in some sense, a victim.
There are no easy answers.
But if you want to explore the questions posed above, Waltz With Bashir is a good place to start. It's not likely to change your mind about anything in regards to the ongoing conflict between Israel and its neighbors, but it will cause you to pause and think. And maybe that pause will be long enough to stop and at least consider the consequences and gravity of such conflicts, to consider the effect on *everyone* involved. Maybe a minute or two, within which peace can get a toehold, if nothing else.
And what of the Israeli soldiers who witnessed the massacre? Are they not to blame for not having stopped the slaughter earlier? Of course. But, as Waltz With Bashir makes apparent, even they are partially punished by the haunting nightmares, the psychological damage of having witnessed what they witnessed and not having done what was necessary to stop it. Perhaps your idea of justice is that these soldiers should swing from the noose for holding off when they could have intervened. But if they had intervened, in a time of war, against orders, they would likely have swung from a noose anyway, for being traitors to the aims of those in power over them. Would that have further satisfied your sense of justice? Would it? Really?
Perhaps. Perhaps not. Each person has to decide for him or herself what is "just" and who to blame for such terrible things. Should political leaders hang for decisions that lead to such slaughter? How exactly does one pin the blame for such things? Who gets to decide? Who is the judge? Is it enough to suffer psychological trauma for the sins one has committed, or must lives be paid for at the cost of more lives?
The lines between who is good and who is evil are muddled by the fog of war. The only thing that is certain is that everyone pays the price of aggression. Everyone who is in an area of violence, whether belligerent or innocent, is, in some sense, a victim.
There are no easy answers.
But if you want to explore the questions posed above, Waltz With Bashir is a good place to start. It's not likely to change your mind about anything in regards to the ongoing conflict between Israel and its neighbors, but it will cause you to pause and think. And maybe that pause will be long enough to stop and at least consider the consequences and gravity of such conflicts, to consider the effect on *everyone* involved. Maybe a minute or two, within which peace can get a toehold, if nothing else.
September 19, 2021
Ari Folman’ın 1982 Lübnan Savaşı’ndaki katliama dair silinen hatıralarının izini sürmesini takip ediyorsunuz. Bu savaşa birlikte katıldığı bir arkadaşının, o döneme dair gördüğü tekrarlanan kabuslarının ardından kendisinin hiçbir şey hayırlamadığını farkedip, birlikte olduğunu düşündüğü insanların anılarında kendi kabuslarını arıyor. Yalnız başlıktaki “Lübnan’da Bir Savaş Hikayesi” ibaresinden dolayı bu iç savaşın detaylarına ve tarihi ilişkilere dair çok fazla bir şey bulmayı beklemeyin. Hikaye daha çok Sabra ve Şatilla katliamlarının İsrailli askerlerin bakış açısına, suçluluk ve insanlık utancının insan zihnindeki sonuçlarına yoğunlaşıyor. Bu yönüyle de arka kapaktaki “Joe Sacco’nun grafik romanlarına benziyor.” tanımından uzaklaşıyor bence. Böyle bir beklenti ile okumayın derim. Ancak gerek yüzleşme gerekse çizimler açısından oldukça güzel, savaşların kahramanlık hikayeleri olmadığını çok güzel anlatıyor. Mutlaka okuyun.
April 23, 2017
The 2008 animated documentary of the same name by Ari Folman and David Polonsky took four years to complete. The frames of this graphic novel may have come from the film itself, and the sense of the film is uncannily captured without the sound or movement. Both book and film are so powerful I could not make it through in one sitting. A tremendous sense of anxiety and foreboding is generated by white/brown/black monochrome washed with an acid, chemical yellow, the slavering wild dogs, and the dissociative reality of war on a beach.
For anyone who hasn’t seen this film or read the graphic novel, I urge you to put aside anything else you have on your plates the minute you obtain a copy of either. It probably won’t take more than an evening to read/watch this remarkable act of witnessing, and you will remember it for the rest of your lives. Folman was a nineteen-year old recruit in the Israeli army when he was sent to Lebanon in 1982 to stop PLO rocket attacks and to retaliate for an assassination attempt on the life of Israeli ambassador to the United Kingdom.
At the time, many displaced Palestinians were living in refugee camps in southern Lebanon in permanent structures like houses. Their lives did not look temporary, but there was always agitation because their refugee status did not change. In Lebanon, the sectarian Christian leader Bashir Gemayel aggressively challenged (some might say crushed) the rights of Palestinians and Muslims, and shortly after he became president-elect in the 1982 presidential election in Lebanon, he was assassinated.
Gemayel’s party, the Christian Phalangists, took their revenge on two refugee camps, Sabra and Shatila. Israeli forces were slow to recognize and respond to an unfolding massacre. It appears they simply did not recognize the evil for what it was--it was too monstrous. The scars of those days left many men unable to understand what had actually happened in September 1982 and their role in it. Forman and Polonsky managed to show us that paralysis that comes over someone, even a group, when something bad is happening. The men protested up to their leaders, but not loudly, confidently, definitively enough. This phenomenon is not unknown. It may even have happened to us.
Much of the story is about the elusive nature of memory, and what scars the trauma of war leaves. The authors decided not to try and give voice to the other participants in this extraordinary event, but to just focus on the point of view of someone who was there but not directly implicated in the killing and who retained no memory of the time. We can forget these times of trauma, which is why the Holocaust is constantly referred to and memorialized. One must remember in order to forestall similar atrocities in the future.
The art in the film and the book is exceptional for its originality. The drawings are a certain kind of primitive and for that reason are all that we can project onto them. It may be the horror is something we bring because objectively speaking, until real photographs appear at the very end, events are only hinted at: we have the blank stares of the affected soldiers and the bizarrely horrible sudden deaths of soldiers playing on a beach—and this all from the point of view of what might be called the Israeli bystanders.
They were part of the army, and they had ordnance, but they had little passion for battle, the Israeli participants. The Palestinians and the Phalangists were locked in what became a battle to the death, giving and receiving no quarter. The whole record of the movie and the book should go down with oral histories of ancient battles not at all heroic but horrible and instructive and something forever to be avoided.
After making this film, Ari Folman said he no longer has interest in simply shooting actors in traditional filmmaking. There was something even more exciting to him about the art of David Polonsky, who tried using his non-dominant hand to draw so that the smoothness of caricatures did not distract from the roughness of the subject matter. Animation was a relatively new industry in Israel when they began, and since they had no infrastructure, they made decisions that more practiced and wealthier studios may not have made.
Both the film and the graphic novel are for grown-ups, or for people who want to be grown-ups.
For anyone who hasn’t seen this film or read the graphic novel, I urge you to put aside anything else you have on your plates the minute you obtain a copy of either. It probably won’t take more than an evening to read/watch this remarkable act of witnessing, and you will remember it for the rest of your lives. Folman was a nineteen-year old recruit in the Israeli army when he was sent to Lebanon in 1982 to stop PLO rocket attacks and to retaliate for an assassination attempt on the life of Israeli ambassador to the United Kingdom.
At the time, many displaced Palestinians were living in refugee camps in southern Lebanon in permanent structures like houses. Their lives did not look temporary, but there was always agitation because their refugee status did not change. In Lebanon, the sectarian Christian leader Bashir Gemayel aggressively challenged (some might say crushed) the rights of Palestinians and Muslims, and shortly after he became president-elect in the 1982 presidential election in Lebanon, he was assassinated.
Gemayel’s party, the Christian Phalangists, took their revenge on two refugee camps, Sabra and Shatila. Israeli forces were slow to recognize and respond to an unfolding massacre. It appears they simply did not recognize the evil for what it was--it was too monstrous. The scars of those days left many men unable to understand what had actually happened in September 1982 and their role in it. Forman and Polonsky managed to show us that paralysis that comes over someone, even a group, when something bad is happening. The men protested up to their leaders, but not loudly, confidently, definitively enough. This phenomenon is not unknown. It may even have happened to us.
Much of the story is about the elusive nature of memory, and what scars the trauma of war leaves. The authors decided not to try and give voice to the other participants in this extraordinary event, but to just focus on the point of view of someone who was there but not directly implicated in the killing and who retained no memory of the time. We can forget these times of trauma, which is why the Holocaust is constantly referred to and memorialized. One must remember in order to forestall similar atrocities in the future.
The art in the film and the book is exceptional for its originality. The drawings are a certain kind of primitive and for that reason are all that we can project onto them. It may be the horror is something we bring because objectively speaking, until real photographs appear at the very end, events are only hinted at: we have the blank stares of the affected soldiers and the bizarrely horrible sudden deaths of soldiers playing on a beach—and this all from the point of view of what might be called the Israeli bystanders.
They were part of the army, and they had ordnance, but they had little passion for battle, the Israeli participants. The Palestinians and the Phalangists were locked in what became a battle to the death, giving and receiving no quarter. The whole record of the movie and the book should go down with oral histories of ancient battles not at all heroic but horrible and instructive and something forever to be avoided.
After making this film, Ari Folman said he no longer has interest in simply shooting actors in traditional filmmaking. There was something even more exciting to him about the art of David Polonsky, who tried using his non-dominant hand to draw so that the smoothness of caricatures did not distract from the roughness of the subject matter. Animation was a relatively new industry in Israel when they began, and since they had no infrastructure, they made decisions that more practiced and wealthier studios may not have made.
Both the film and the graphic novel are for grown-ups, or for people who want to be grown-ups.
May 20, 2021
No wonder the poor dear innocent helpless clueless child soldiers of Israel playing the part of Nazis "unwillingly" did not realise that "a genocide was going on inside the camp" it shouldn't matter whether they "fired the flames that help the phalanges do what they were doing", none of it matters. Or such is the message conveyed by this piece of pure art.
Well no surprises there!
it is perfectly normal for those soldiers to fail to perceive and utterly forget what happened in Lebanon because they dont even know why Sabra and shatila existed in the first place, they don't have the apparatus "to store" in their "system" the impressions of what they do to Palestinians on daily basis they simply r too unwilling dazed n too moral (in fact "the most moral army in the world") to comprehend the impact of each bomb dropped on Gaza, each bullet fired on Palestinians, each Bulldozer used to crush a home, each camp established in the imitation of Hitler each metanarrative woven to justify the genocide and displacement of natives that they r so "unwillingly" carrying on for over 7 decades now. Hitler had his narratives and justifications and so does Israel, and both r not very much different in impact and cruelty. It took Europe a long time to condemn the genocide Hitler carried on. who knows how much time and blood the world needs to wake up to the genocides going on in today's world!
Falasteen 💔♥️
Well no surprises there!
it is perfectly normal for those soldiers to fail to perceive and utterly forget what happened in Lebanon because they dont even know why Sabra and shatila existed in the first place, they don't have the apparatus "to store" in their "system" the impressions of what they do to Palestinians on daily basis they simply r too unwilling dazed n too moral (in fact "the most moral army in the world") to comprehend the impact of each bomb dropped on Gaza, each bullet fired on Palestinians, each Bulldozer used to crush a home, each camp established in the imitation of Hitler each metanarrative woven to justify the genocide and displacement of natives that they r so "unwillingly" carrying on for over 7 decades now. Hitler had his narratives and justifications and so does Israel, and both r not very much different in impact and cruelty. It took Europe a long time to condemn the genocide Hitler carried on. who knows how much time and blood the world needs to wake up to the genocides going on in today's world!
Falasteen 💔♥️
October 12, 2017
Mattatoio Beirut
Ho scoperto questo libro a fumetti, reperito inaspettatamente in biblioteca, grazie alla bella recensione scritta dal mio vicino Ajeje Brazov.
La vicenda al centro di queste tavole è una delle pagine più drammatiche e agghiaccianti della Storia recente: il massacro dei campi profughi palestinesi di Sabra e Shatila a Beirut, avvenuto nel settembre del 1982 a opera dei falangisti cristiani di Bashir Gemayel con il complice sostegno dell’esercito israeliano che all’epoca aveva invaso il Libano.
Tratto dall’omonimo film d’animazione del regista israeliano Ari Folman, che vi ha proposto la sua storia di giovane soldato testimone, suo malgrado, di quella mattanza, “Valzer con Bashir” è un fumetto intenso, duro, sconvolgente che denuncia l’assurdità della guerra; è israeliano anche David Polonsky, i cui disegni dal fascino particolare ben rappresentano le tragiche atmosfere degli eventi narrati. Molto importante, dunque, questa presa di coscienza da parte della società d’Israele, uno schiaffo all’arroganza e alla violenza dello Stato ebraico e di personaggi del calibro di Ariel Sharon (che non riposi in pace) e di tutta la gentaccia che pure oggi siede al governo. I morti di Sabra e Shatila, purtroppo, dai più anziani ai bambini ancora nel ventre materno, non avranno mai giustizia.
http://www.raistoria.rai.it/articoli/...
Ho scoperto questo libro a fumetti, reperito inaspettatamente in biblioteca, grazie alla bella recensione scritta dal mio vicino Ajeje Brazov.
La vicenda al centro di queste tavole è una delle pagine più drammatiche e agghiaccianti della Storia recente: il massacro dei campi profughi palestinesi di Sabra e Shatila a Beirut, avvenuto nel settembre del 1982 a opera dei falangisti cristiani di Bashir Gemayel con il complice sostegno dell’esercito israeliano che all’epoca aveva invaso il Libano.
Tratto dall’omonimo film d’animazione del regista israeliano Ari Folman, che vi ha proposto la sua storia di giovane soldato testimone, suo malgrado, di quella mattanza, “Valzer con Bashir” è un fumetto intenso, duro, sconvolgente che denuncia l’assurdità della guerra; è israeliano anche David Polonsky, i cui disegni dal fascino particolare ben rappresentano le tragiche atmosfere degli eventi narrati. Molto importante, dunque, questa presa di coscienza da parte della società d’Israele, uno schiaffo all’arroganza e alla violenza dello Stato ebraico e di personaggi del calibro di Ariel Sharon (che non riposi in pace) e di tutta la gentaccia che pure oggi siede al governo. I morti di Sabra e Shatila, purtroppo, dai più anziani ai bambini ancora nel ventre materno, non avranno mai giustizia.
http://www.raistoria.rai.it/articoli/...
November 24, 2016
"Waltz With Bashir" is a reflection on war and memory. It tries to take a clearer and closer look at how vulnerable we all are to the stories we are told, to the narrative tug of our own survival mechanisms. I think it tries to show that reflection can be a radical act. That when our bodies, our nervous systems are in fight or flight mode during war-time, meaningful reflection is impossible or very close to impossible, but that doesn't mean reflection later in life, uncovering the difficult truths of war-time, isn't meaningful. It won't bring back murdered civilians, soldiers, friends, family, but it does honor their memories, and that is not nothing. If we could all just take accountability for our parts in conflict, armed and otherwise, as painful as it is, well, I think relationships between people and nations could really take a turn for the better. But, on the whole it seems we're not that kind of primate.
So, I appreciate the questioning in this book. About the nature of war and memory. And the interesting address of the challenge of stopping--in the war-time moment--massacres and abuses and injustices. They happen to some degree during all wars (I don't think there's ever been a war free of it) and they are not easy to stop. It would take 1) awareness that the massacre is happening, and that it is not a necessary part of the war, which can seem much more obvious when one isn't dodging bullets and extra vulnerable to highly-charged, fear-mongering and/or dehumanizing narratives 2) the courage to risk one's own safety in order to intervene 3) an organized approach to intervention so that one's risk does not end very quickly and likely violently and with little fanfare.
So this book is a meditation on the muddled nature of memory as it relates to war, and the helplessness people feel in the face of horrors that they participate in or witness. In this case a person gradually wakes to these horrors in his own past. (This isn't always the case. Sometimes people keep them stuffed down deep or don't see a reason to question such events. Not everyone has an interest in reflecting on their war-time experiences in a critical way, and not everyone thinks massacres are bad.)
Maybe the best we can hope for is the ability to, with as much honesty and curiosity as we can muster, reflect on forces at play in our world. The book tells us that this kind of reflection is a meaningful quest, and perhaps more of an odyssean quest than war itself. It calls on a very different set of skills and kinds of bravery, and hopefully allows for the possibility of reparation. And reparation has powers war can't even dream of. At least, that is what I am choosing to believe at this moment.
So, I'm glad this book exists, but it seems unfinished, like it can't quite stand on its own without the film. It has the feel of an outline, not fully fledged. I wish it would have gone on its own unique journey. Spent more time exploring the questions about memory and war on its own terms. Still, it's an effort at opening up an important conversation, and a courageous one at that.
So, I appreciate the questioning in this book. About the nature of war and memory. And the interesting address of the challenge of stopping--in the war-time moment--massacres and abuses and injustices. They happen to some degree during all wars (I don't think there's ever been a war free of it) and they are not easy to stop. It would take 1) awareness that the massacre is happening, and that it is not a necessary part of the war, which can seem much more obvious when one isn't dodging bullets and extra vulnerable to highly-charged, fear-mongering and/or dehumanizing narratives 2) the courage to risk one's own safety in order to intervene 3) an organized approach to intervention so that one's risk does not end very quickly and likely violently and with little fanfare.
So this book is a meditation on the muddled nature of memory as it relates to war, and the helplessness people feel in the face of horrors that they participate in or witness. In this case a person gradually wakes to these horrors in his own past. (This isn't always the case. Sometimes people keep them stuffed down deep or don't see a reason to question such events. Not everyone has an interest in reflecting on their war-time experiences in a critical way, and not everyone thinks massacres are bad.)
Maybe the best we can hope for is the ability to, with as much honesty and curiosity as we can muster, reflect on forces at play in our world. The book tells us that this kind of reflection is a meaningful quest, and perhaps more of an odyssean quest than war itself. It calls on a very different set of skills and kinds of bravery, and hopefully allows for the possibility of reparation. And reparation has powers war can't even dream of. At least, that is what I am choosing to believe at this moment.
So, I'm glad this book exists, but it seems unfinished, like it can't quite stand on its own without the film. It has the feel of an outline, not fully fledged. I wish it would have gone on its own unique journey. Spent more time exploring the questions about memory and war on its own terms. Still, it's an effort at opening up an important conversation, and a courageous one at that.
July 24, 2017
"One night in Beirut in September 1982, while Israeli soldiers secured the area, Christian militia members entered the refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila and began to massacre hundreds, if not thousands, of Palestinians."
We often forget that history is the story of war told by the victors. The massacre that occured in Sabra and Shatila is not one I had even heard about until I was in college and met a classmate called Sabra. In every war and conflict, it is too easy to label one group the good guys and the others bad, but that is not ever the entire story, and this comic explores the history of this event and the amnesia, personal and collective, that surround it. What people knew and did not, what they did and did not. While it's often easy to think we might behave differently in a given circumstance, this book is a reminder that when we are in high stress situations we behave in unexpected ways and often have no memories of the trauma at all.
I really liked the art in this one, and the exploration of how memory and history intertwine. I appreciated learning more about these events, and it's fascinating and horrifying to read about events from a different perspective. I plan to watch the movie, and deducted a star because it felt unfinished in some crucial manner.
It's interesting that this my library labeled this as fiction when it clearly is not. An important book for anyone with strong opinions about the Israeli/Palestinian "conflict". If you tend to only hear one side of that story, give this one a try.
We often forget that history is the story of war told by the victors. The massacre that occured in Sabra and Shatila is not one I had even heard about until I was in college and met a classmate called Sabra. In every war and conflict, it is too easy to label one group the good guys and the others bad, but that is not ever the entire story, and this comic explores the history of this event and the amnesia, personal and collective, that surround it. What people knew and did not, what they did and did not. While it's often easy to think we might behave differently in a given circumstance, this book is a reminder that when we are in high stress situations we behave in unexpected ways and often have no memories of the trauma at all.
I really liked the art in this one, and the exploration of how memory and history intertwine. I appreciated learning more about these events, and it's fascinating and horrifying to read about events from a different perspective. I plan to watch the movie, and deducted a star because it felt unfinished in some crucial manner.
It's interesting that this my library labeled this as fiction when it clearly is not. An important book for anyone with strong opinions about the Israeli/Palestinian "conflict". If you tend to only hear one side of that story, give this one a try.
May 4, 2019
İnsanoğlunun karanlığına yapılan inkar ve travmayla dolu bir yolculuk.
Yolculuk malesef hala sürüyor. Daha üzücü olan ise çoğunluğun karanlıktan gözlerini kaçırması.
Yolculuk malesef hala sürüyor. Daha üzücü olan ise çoğunluğun karanlıktan gözlerini kaçırması.
December 14, 2010
Really potent and deeply felt illustrated examination of amnesia, collective and personal, about an event which is hidden in the unconscious for what are pretty understandable, all-too-human type reasons. I have a lot of respect for anyone who is going to do some truth telling as an excersize in evidence against interest- if it feels good for you to talk about it, it probably isn't something which is as important as that which brings shame.
I think Folman has accomplished something profound and honest and relevant and generous here, about an event of which I know little...
The Israeli/Palestinian conflict is something which interests me, something which I'd like to know more about and certainly seems like something which is so complex it could take a lifetime of reading to get straight. I don't have world enough and time, sadly.
But I'm glad I read WWB and I'm glad it was assigned to me for a class.
Disregarding favoritism for one side or the other I do think that self-criticism from a position of strength, confrontation with too-easy answers and too-comfortable complacency, amounts to an important step forward. Not merely for my reading habits, surely, but perhaps for the whole human race.
February 9, 2016
This is the graphic novel based on the film with the same name, dealing with memory and its ways to deal with traumatic events.
This story starts with a middle-aged man retelling a friend about a dream. In this dream, a group of dogs run through the streets looking for him, knowing they want to kill him. He connects the dogs with his own duty during his twenties as he was a member of the Israeli army.
This situation triggers the question in the protagonist's mind: why does he have all his memories of his time in the army totally erased?
With this issue in his head, he starts a journey to uncover the events that surrounded the massacre in a refuggee camp in Beirut and the role the Israeli army played as they didn't stop the rebels to kill the civilians, among them, women and children.
The colours chosen by the artist and the outline given to the characters emphasise this feeling of urgency; the fragility of the soldiers' souls; the craziness involved in the decisions taken by a few; the consequences the young boys have to face once the battle is over.
I highly recommended graphic novel as it deals with issues that the powerful do the best to hide; young boys having to face the horror with their own eyes; their lives never the same; never their own again.
This story starts with a middle-aged man retelling a friend about a dream. In this dream, a group of dogs run through the streets looking for him, knowing they want to kill him. He connects the dogs with his own duty during his twenties as he was a member of the Israeli army.
This situation triggers the question in the protagonist's mind: why does he have all his memories of his time in the army totally erased?
With this issue in his head, he starts a journey to uncover the events that surrounded the massacre in a refuggee camp in Beirut and the role the Israeli army played as they didn't stop the rebels to kill the civilians, among them, women and children.
The colours chosen by the artist and the outline given to the characters emphasise this feeling of urgency; the fragility of the soldiers' souls; the craziness involved in the decisions taken by a few; the consequences the young boys have to face once the battle is over.
I highly recommended graphic novel as it deals with issues that the powerful do the best to hide; young boys having to face the horror with their own eyes; their lives never the same; never their own again.
July 10, 2009
Reading Waltz With Bashir has been an interesting experience. Initially I was under the impression that it was a graphic novel based on a live-action movie, but as I came to learn more of the graphic novel's history I realized that this is a direct film-to-book translation of an animated piece. Each panel is captured from the film and given English dialogue. Despite my general dislike for book adaptations of movies, Waltz With Bashir actually works, because as a graphic novel it is as visually stimulating as a film might be and had an immense impact on me as a reader.
Waltz With Bashir follows a man named Folman, one of the authors, actually, who has begun having strange and terrible dreams related to his involvement in the 1982 Lebanon War. But he can't remember anything from the war beyond vague details and sets out to unravel the pieces to finally achieve some semblance of piece in his sleep. In doing so, however,
he begins to discover things about himself and the war that he would much rather forget.
Waltz With Bashir is clearly an emotional piece, and it successfully strikes home the feeling of regret and terror that comes with war, and especially with particularly bloody ones. While the story never fully completes itself--Folman never recalls his past in its entirety--Waltz With Bashir does give us a detailed glimpse into the world of a modern day soldier in the Middle East.
Particularly touching, for me, were the last few pages of the book, which showed real pictures from the events described by Folman in his memories. These are, to say the least, disturbing precisely because they are real images, not doctored or staged photos--at least, I assume they're not staged. The vast majority of us in the U.S. and other Western countries have not experienced the darker aspects of war, and probably never will. Waltz With Bashir, however, is a graphic novel that wants us to see these things; it wants to pull us out of our comfort zones to relay reality.
Already I am a fan of this piece. While the artwork has a tendency to be a tad simplistic, the merger of real backgrounds with drawn figures is a welcome change from the more typical styles of comic art. And while Waltz With Bashir may not be science fiction or fantasy, I think readers here will enjoy not only the movie, but this graphic novel, because it manages to do what few graphic novels have done successfully: tell a self-contained, deep, and detailed story that is aware of the psychological conditions of its characters. This one is definitely worth picking up!
Waltz With Bashir follows a man named Folman, one of the authors, actually, who has begun having strange and terrible dreams related to his involvement in the 1982 Lebanon War. But he can't remember anything from the war beyond vague details and sets out to unravel the pieces to finally achieve some semblance of piece in his sleep. In doing so, however,
he begins to discover things about himself and the war that he would much rather forget.
Waltz With Bashir is clearly an emotional piece, and it successfully strikes home the feeling of regret and terror that comes with war, and especially with particularly bloody ones. While the story never fully completes itself--Folman never recalls his past in its entirety--Waltz With Bashir does give us a detailed glimpse into the world of a modern day soldier in the Middle East.
Particularly touching, for me, were the last few pages of the book, which showed real pictures from the events described by Folman in his memories. These are, to say the least, disturbing precisely because they are real images, not doctored or staged photos--at least, I assume they're not staged. The vast majority of us in the U.S. and other Western countries have not experienced the darker aspects of war, and probably never will. Waltz With Bashir, however, is a graphic novel that wants us to see these things; it wants to pull us out of our comfort zones to relay reality.
Already I am a fan of this piece. While the artwork has a tendency to be a tad simplistic, the merger of real backgrounds with drawn figures is a welcome change from the more typical styles of comic art. And while Waltz With Bashir may not be science fiction or fantasy, I think readers here will enjoy not only the movie, but this graphic novel, because it manages to do what few graphic novels have done successfully: tell a self-contained, deep, and detailed story that is aware of the psychological conditions of its characters. This one is definitely worth picking up!
October 8, 2017
Valzer con Bashir ci racconta la storia di un soldato israeliano che, anni dopo la strage di Sabra e Chatila, ascoltando un suo amico parlargli di un incubo recente legato alla guerra in Libano del 1982, inizia un percorso fatto di interviste, incontri con amici del tempo, per far riaffiorare ciò che successe in quel periodo, perchè al presente ha un vuoto di memoria...
Qualche anno fa ho visto il film e mi aveva sconvolto molto, perchè una ferocia del genere non passa inosservata e la cosa peggiore, anzi più ignobile è quella di prendersela con la gente comune, che non c'entra niente, è un comportamento, che non riesco a considerare, a concepire!
Allora mi ero riproposto di leggere il fumetto che poi ne hanno tratto ed ora che l'ho letto e guardato, posso dire che sono due opere (il film ed il fumetto) davvero meritevoli di considerazione, perchè fanno conoscere storie altrimenti sconosciute, anche se non approfondite, fanno comunque riflettere e non è poco.
"Che differenza fa se ho sparato io i razzi o se ho solo guardato quel cielo illuminato a giorno, che aiutava altri ad ammazzare gente?"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8f7n2...
Qualche anno fa ho visto il film e mi aveva sconvolto molto, perchè una ferocia del genere non passa inosservata e la cosa peggiore, anzi più ignobile è quella di prendersela con la gente comune, che non c'entra niente, è un comportamento, che non riesco a considerare, a concepire!
Allora mi ero riproposto di leggere il fumetto che poi ne hanno tratto ed ora che l'ho letto e guardato, posso dire che sono due opere (il film ed il fumetto) davvero meritevoli di considerazione, perchè fanno conoscere storie altrimenti sconosciute, anche se non approfondite, fanno comunque riflettere e non è poco.
"Che differenza fa se ho sparato io i razzi o se ho solo guardato quel cielo illuminato a giorno, che aiutava altri ad ammazzare gente?"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8f7n2...
August 22, 2015
الكتاب يتحدث عن جندي اسرائيلي يراوده كابوس دائم. الكابوس عبارة عن الحياة التي عاشها هذا الجندي الاسرائيلي خلال الحرب على لبنان خصوصا مجزرة صبرا وشتيلا
الكتاب مفعم بالبؤس والكئابة والحزن من ذلك القتل والدمار اللذبن حصلا في تلك البقعة من الارض.
الكتاب يعرض عن مأساة صبرا وشتيلا: كيف حدثت ومن المسؤول المباشر عنها وعن جيش لحد والقوات اللبنانية التي ساهمت في القضاء على المدنيين العزل الموجودون في المخيم . طبعا الكاتب لا ينكر مساهمة الجيش الاسرائيلي في اغلاق مداخل المخيم والقاء القنابل المضيئة ليتسنى لقوات لحد اللبنانية قتل الفلسطينيين بيسر وسهولة
الكتاب مأساة فلسطينية بمزيج درامي انساني
الكتاب مفعم بالبؤس والكئابة والحزن من ذلك القتل والدمار اللذبن حصلا في تلك البقعة من الارض.
الكتاب يعرض عن مأساة صبرا وشتيلا: كيف حدثت ومن المسؤول المباشر عنها وعن جيش لحد والقوات اللبنانية التي ساهمت في القضاء على المدنيين العزل الموجودون في المخيم . طبعا الكاتب لا ينكر مساهمة الجيش الاسرائيلي في اغلاق مداخل المخيم والقاء القنابل المضيئة ليتسنى لقوات لحد اللبنانية قتل الفلسطينيين بيسر وسهولة
الكتاب مأساة فلسطينية بمزيج درامي انساني
November 4, 2020
An interesting look into the Lebanon War and a quick read. The pictures were incredibly well-done.
In terms of whether or not this is "a gripping reconstruction, a probing inquiry into the unreliable quality of memory, and, above all, a powerful denunciation of the senselessness of all wars," well...
1) "a gripping reconstruction" -- certainly intriguing, but there wasn't much drive for me to keep reading / finish in one sitting. I wouldn't call it "gripping."
2) "a probing inquiry into the unreliable quality of memory" -- I wouldn't say so. Anyone with even a little bit of background in memory formation / false memories would know the stuff that Folman discusses before they begin reading. Furthermore, he never *directly* relates the unreliable quality of memory to the idea that the story he is telling may not be true. In short, I would not describe the book as "a probing inquiry..."
3) "a powerful denunciation of the senselessness of all wars" -- maybe. It certainly highlights the senselessness of killing in the Lebanon War, as well as this war as a whole, but it does not explicitly speak to all wars. There is some reference to the Holocaust, but the Holocaust and WWII are separate (though related) events. In the sense that WWII brought an end to the Holocaust, it certainly was not a completely senseless war.* But certainly murder and massacre are brought under heavy scrutiny in this book.
* I'll admit I don't know much about WWII, but as I understand it, Germany "started it," yes? Hence their starting a war and killing various groups, most notably Jews, in the Holocaust was senseless. But the response is not senseless? If someone shoots at you, tries to overtake your country, etc. shouldn't you shoot back? This idea of wars being senseless is certainly reasonable, but we don't live in a perfect world. If someone starts fighting you, wants to exterminate you, you must fight back. That being said, the Lebanon War was certainly a mire that Israel got stuck in, similarly (but not entirely comparable) to the United States with the Vietnam War.
To conclude, would I recommend this book?
Probably yes. It's short enough that you could get through it in one day if you wanted to. It's also available on Open Library! It may be difficult for some readers (there is some gore, as it is about war). The quality of the drawings is amazing, and the intro certainly provides a hook to bring you in to the story.
In terms of whether or not this is "a gripping reconstruction, a probing inquiry into the unreliable quality of memory, and, above all, a powerful denunciation of the senselessness of all wars," well...
1) "a gripping reconstruction" -- certainly intriguing, but there wasn't much drive for me to keep reading / finish in one sitting. I wouldn't call it "gripping."
2) "a probing inquiry into the unreliable quality of memory" -- I wouldn't say so. Anyone with even a little bit of background in memory formation / false memories would know the stuff that Folman discusses before they begin reading. Furthermore, he never *directly* relates the unreliable quality of memory to the idea that the story he is telling may not be true. In short, I would not describe the book as "a probing inquiry..."
3) "a powerful denunciation of the senselessness of all wars" -- maybe. It certainly highlights the senselessness of killing in the Lebanon War, as well as this war as a whole, but it does not explicitly speak to all wars. There is some reference to the Holocaust, but the Holocaust and WWII are separate (though related) events. In the sense that WWII brought an end to the Holocaust, it certainly was not a completely senseless war.* But certainly murder and massacre are brought under heavy scrutiny in this book.
* I'll admit I don't know much about WWII, but as I understand it, Germany "started it," yes? Hence their starting a war and killing various groups, most notably Jews, in the Holocaust was senseless. But the response is not senseless? If someone shoots at you, tries to overtake your country, etc. shouldn't you shoot back? This idea of wars being senseless is certainly reasonable, but we don't live in a perfect world. If someone starts fighting you, wants to exterminate you, you must fight back. That being said, the Lebanon War was certainly a mire that Israel got stuck in, similarly (but not entirely comparable) to the United States with the Vietnam War.
To conclude, would I recommend this book?
Probably yes. It's short enough that you could get through it in one day if you wanted to. It's also available on Open Library! It may be difficult for some readers (there is some gore, as it is about war). The quality of the drawings is amazing, and the intro certainly provides a hook to bring you in to the story.
February 24, 2017
com fotos do interior em https://osrascunhos.com/2017/02/16/wa...
Ao contrário do que nos diz o nosso cérebro, a memória é algo volátil, em transformação constante, capaz de nos enganar e de nos iludir, capaz de se esconder no nosso inconsciente e de retornar nos momentos menos prováveis. Por vezes este esconder é um mecanismo de defesa, uma forma de nos protegermos a nós próprios, uma forma de mantermos a integridade emocional e de resistir à mudança inevitável que o aceitar dessas memórias traria.
Um dia um homem resolve contar o pesadelo que o assola, eternamente perseguido pelos cães que matou. Não sabe que o contar do episódio nocturno repetitivo levará, a quem ouve, a ter um flashback da guerra que viveu e da qual nada recordava, iniciando-se uma busca pelos motivos do esquecimento e dos traumáticos acontecimentos ocorridos.
Entre os vários relatos que busca reconstroem-se ocorrências de um horror quase indescritível, percepções de uma guerra que decorre em cidades e envolve fatalidades civis, pelos olhos de rapazes quase adolescentes que pouco ou nada sabem da vida e muito menos das ordens que receberão.
Por vezes quase silencioso em relação aos episódios que apresenta, Waltz with Bashir apresenta a realidade pesada e vergonhosa da Guerra no Líbano em 1982, com os massacres que ocorreram durante a guerra. O que o torna peculiar é a perspectiva do soldado que se dissociou das suas próprias memórias, e a perspectiva com que são contados os relatos, pessoal e centrada nos soldados, meros rapazes
Na sua maioria, as imagens destacam a figura do soldado mas nem sempre o integram totalmente no que o rodeia, à semelhança da dissociação que ocorre na sua mente. As cenas de guerra e carnificina confrontam-se com as da cidade por vezes aparentemente pacífica e com as tentativas de vida pessoal destes soldados nas poucas folgas que têm.
Poderoso pelos cenários que apresenta, vergonhoso como qualquer guerra, Waltz with Bashir contém imagens e perspectiva que não deixam o leitor indiferente, mostrando como a carnificina pode marcar de forma bastante diferente a mente e a realidade de cada um.
Ao contrário do que nos diz o nosso cérebro, a memória é algo volátil, em transformação constante, capaz de nos enganar e de nos iludir, capaz de se esconder no nosso inconsciente e de retornar nos momentos menos prováveis. Por vezes este esconder é um mecanismo de defesa, uma forma de nos protegermos a nós próprios, uma forma de mantermos a integridade emocional e de resistir à mudança inevitável que o aceitar dessas memórias traria.
Um dia um homem resolve contar o pesadelo que o assola, eternamente perseguido pelos cães que matou. Não sabe que o contar do episódio nocturno repetitivo levará, a quem ouve, a ter um flashback da guerra que viveu e da qual nada recordava, iniciando-se uma busca pelos motivos do esquecimento e dos traumáticos acontecimentos ocorridos.
Entre os vários relatos que busca reconstroem-se ocorrências de um horror quase indescritível, percepções de uma guerra que decorre em cidades e envolve fatalidades civis, pelos olhos de rapazes quase adolescentes que pouco ou nada sabem da vida e muito menos das ordens que receberão.
Por vezes quase silencioso em relação aos episódios que apresenta, Waltz with Bashir apresenta a realidade pesada e vergonhosa da Guerra no Líbano em 1982, com os massacres que ocorreram durante a guerra. O que o torna peculiar é a perspectiva do soldado que se dissociou das suas próprias memórias, e a perspectiva com que são contados os relatos, pessoal e centrada nos soldados, meros rapazes
Na sua maioria, as imagens destacam a figura do soldado mas nem sempre o integram totalmente no que o rodeia, à semelhança da dissociação que ocorre na sua mente. As cenas de guerra e carnificina confrontam-se com as da cidade por vezes aparentemente pacífica e com as tentativas de vida pessoal destes soldados nas poucas folgas que têm.
Poderoso pelos cenários que apresenta, vergonhoso como qualquer guerra, Waltz with Bashir contém imagens e perspectiva que não deixam o leitor indiferente, mostrando como a carnificina pode marcar de forma bastante diferente a mente e a realidade de cada um.
October 4, 2018
Valzer con Bashir è la storia di un israeliano che comincia a ricordare i momenti della guerra in Libano, vissuta durante il periodo di leva. Ci racconta così il terribile massacro dei palestinesi avvenuto a Sabra e Chatila. Il protagonista segue un percorso di rievocazione andando a parlare coi suoi commilitoni. Questo processo di ricostruzione è anche un invito a non dimenticare le stragi degli innocenti che fanno di ogni guerra una calamità senza senso per le popolazioni che le subiscono. I disegni sono molto particolari, hanno sfondi realistici e sono dominati dai toni del nero, grigio e marrone, dando alla storia un mood quasi noir. Le immagini finali ci ricordano però che questa non è finzione, ma la vita e la morte di persone reali. Questo libro è un manifesto contro le guerre che prova a scuoterci dall'indifferenza.
May 5, 2013
Devastante.
A scatola chiusa. E' così che bisognerebbe affrontare l'arte. Impreparati, disarmati, inermi. Lo ammetto, questa graphic novel (tratta dal film omonimo presentato a Cannes nel 2008) mi era sconosciuta, così come i fatti da essa raccontati. Il Libano, i massacri di Sabra e Chatila, Beirut, la guerra, l'idiozia umana, l'odio fomentato dalle religioni, l'isteria. Valzer con Bashir è un'opera straziante, che con potenza inaudita mette a nudo la precarietà della memoria. L'ignoranza stavolta ha giocato a mio favore, la non-conoscenza mi ha permesso di solcare indelebilmente la coscienza.
A scatola chiusa. E' così che bisognerebbe affrontare l'arte. Impreparati, disarmati, inermi. Lo ammetto, questa graphic novel (tratta dal film omonimo presentato a Cannes nel 2008) mi era sconosciuta, così come i fatti da essa raccontati. Il Libano, i massacri di Sabra e Chatila, Beirut, la guerra, l'idiozia umana, l'odio fomentato dalle religioni, l'isteria. Valzer con Bashir è un'opera straziante, che con potenza inaudita mette a nudo la precarietà della memoria. L'ignoranza stavolta ha giocato a mio favore, la non-conoscenza mi ha permesso di solcare indelebilmente la coscienza.
October 14, 2022
IL MASSACRO DI SABRA E SHATILA
2022 marca il quarantesimo anniversario dal massacro avvenuto a Sabra e Chatila, due campi profughi vicino a Beirut. Sulla mia pagina instagram ho anche creato un piccolo approfondimento per la mia rubrica #paginedimenticate.
"Valzer con Bashir" di Ari Folman e illustrato da David Polonsky, un film diretto dallo stesso Folman e trasposto in graphic novel.
Il presupposto parte da un soldato che ha difficoltà a ricordare parte della sua esperienza nell'esercito, dalle azioni di guerriglia alla partecipazione a ciò che accadde a Sabra e Chatila, un crimine perpetrato dalle falangi cristiane con la connivenza dell'esercito israeliano.
Per questo ripercorre il sentiero della sua memoria parlando con i suoi ex commilitori per ricostruire quel terribile periodo. Il dettagli delle illustrazioni sono devastanti, episodi duri e crudi, a volte ripresi paro paro da foto che documentano la realtà dei fatti. Spinge a importanti riflessioni sulla corresponsabilità e sul ruolo della memoria, lasciandoci con il grande interrogativo aperto come le cose possano (o se possono) cambiare.
2022 marca il quarantesimo anniversario dal massacro avvenuto a Sabra e Chatila, due campi profughi vicino a Beirut. Sulla mia pagina instagram ho anche creato un piccolo approfondimento per la mia rubrica #paginedimenticate.
"Valzer con Bashir" di Ari Folman e illustrato da David Polonsky, un film diretto dallo stesso Folman e trasposto in graphic novel.
Il presupposto parte da un soldato che ha difficoltà a ricordare parte della sua esperienza nell'esercito, dalle azioni di guerriglia alla partecipazione a ciò che accadde a Sabra e Chatila, un crimine perpetrato dalle falangi cristiane con la connivenza dell'esercito israeliano.
Per questo ripercorre il sentiero della sua memoria parlando con i suoi ex commilitori per ricostruire quel terribile periodo. Il dettagli delle illustrazioni sono devastanti, episodi duri e crudi, a volte ripresi paro paro da foto che documentano la realtà dei fatti. Spinge a importanti riflessioni sulla corresponsabilità e sul ruolo della memoria, lasciandoci con il grande interrogativo aperto come le cose possano (o se possono) cambiare.
April 23, 2018
Posted : 8 years, 3 months ago on 21 January 2010 05:21 (A review of Waltz with Bashir)
http://www.listal.com/viewentry/414843
''Memory is dynamic, it’s alive. If some details are missing, memory fills in the holes with things that never happened.''
An Israeli film director interviews fellow veterans of the 1982 invasion of Lebanon to reconstruct his own memories of his term of service in that conflict.
Ari Folman: Himself
Vals Im Bashir(2008) translating as Waltz with Bashir. So what is Vals Im Bashir? It is a film project from Israeli director Ari Folman and quite easily among the standout films of 2008, with its surreal animation style and abrupt way of portraying horrific events and genocide. The events concerning the Sabra and Shatila massacre, in which Palestinian men, women and children were massacred by Christian Phalangists as revenge for the assassination of their leader and idolized Bashir Gemayel. The Israelis involvment with the killings is shrouded in mystery, even the sending of flares into the night sky to assist the Phalangists seems baffling.
Vals Im Bashir is also told mostly in the language and dialect of Hebrew.
Taking a rather dreamy documentary approach to his narrative, Folman presents his story through the eyes of his own experience as he tries to uncover his lost memory involving the Lebanon War twenty years past. Through this direct approach to storytelling, the movie immediately achieves a sense of realism, and when used in combination with the other worldly animation that merges with the technique style used in the masterful A Scanner Darkly, strikes a poignant balance between dream-like reminiscence and in-the-moment revelation. In this sense Folman manages to bridge the gap between flashback and real-time storytelling.
Taking his time to talk to several people involved in the war along side himself, Folman presents his character as conducting interviews. Their names will appear in the corner of the screen, and the styles used often echo those found in documentaries. In essence then, what unfolds is virtually an animated documentary of sorts, telling the story of how Folman in real life eventually begins to remember his time serving as a soldier.
Although this straight forward approach to indulging in something of an honest perspective history lesson involving the Lebanon War provides ample interest; It is when Folman uses the animation present in his film to propel forth his story that the project excels; traveling back into his memories of the war itself and presenting first hand accounts. Through these scenes the film goes to great lengths to provide both hard hitting accounts on life during the war as a soldier, and surreal images which deal more with the psychological implications of war. It is during these sequences that Waltz with Bashir achieves its greatest sense of relevancy, merging all three elements of its presentation with grace, significance and well conceived direction. As a war movie, the film and Folman seem to refuse to take a stance on the general concept of war, instead showing what life was like during such times with little to no bias either way; like the masterpiece Apocalypse Now, Waltz with Bashir isn't interested in the politics involved, but more with the humanity that makes war breathe, shoot and come alive in fear. It's a story that lacks a position but is far greater off because of it; war is war and Folman knows this all too well, he just has his own personal story to tell… that is, once he remembers it.
For someone suffering from selective amnesia however, Folman tells a solid tale. Taken as a whole, Waltz with Bashir is a slow moving, but well delivered and insightful piece of cinema that not only sheds light on the people involved and a historical event often shadowed by larger accounts, but it allows the medium to breathe. There are some problems included here, but only in minor details, most of which reside in the somewhat oddly placed third act that shows paradoxically Israeli Soldiers, certainly some of them reported in the massacres, sometimes becoming systematic exterminators.
If this project is maybe considered as propaganda then it thankfully does not side with Israeli thinking nor does it side completely with Palestinian ideology. The massacre and harming of civilians is certainly not acceptable. Yet as we watch we begin to see the chaos and uncaring attitude of the proprietors of the massacre and War.
Children with RPGs in fields, Soldiers urinating on enemy corpses, Palestinians lined up and shot...Waltz with Bashir holds no punches in criticizing itself.
Nevertheless there is no denying that what Folman has to say here is not only important and relevant to us many years on, but that it forms a story that moves, feels alive and isn't afraid to ridicule the people in power and the military drones. There are moments of tension, comedy and insightful characterization that go beyond even the most overt of films that force such elements down your throat. Instead Waltz with Bashir is a gradually enveloping affair that slowly reveals itself as the runtime comes to a close. Taking full advantage of the animated medium and combining it with a beautiful score and a coherent, intelligent and enlightening script, Folman delivers a memorable and confronting biographical drama that is always interesting to watch, even if it all does feel like a nightmarish dream...Waltz with Bashir taunts us into waking up and shows us this nightmare is real.
http://www.listal.com/viewentry/414843
''Memory is dynamic, it’s alive. If some details are missing, memory fills in the holes with things that never happened.''
An Israeli film director interviews fellow veterans of the 1982 invasion of Lebanon to reconstruct his own memories of his term of service in that conflict.
Ari Folman: Himself
Vals Im Bashir(2008) translating as Waltz with Bashir. So what is Vals Im Bashir? It is a film project from Israeli director Ari Folman and quite easily among the standout films of 2008, with its surreal animation style and abrupt way of portraying horrific events and genocide. The events concerning the Sabra and Shatila massacre, in which Palestinian men, women and children were massacred by Christian Phalangists as revenge for the assassination of their leader and idolized Bashir Gemayel. The Israelis involvment with the killings is shrouded in mystery, even the sending of flares into the night sky to assist the Phalangists seems baffling.
Vals Im Bashir is also told mostly in the language and dialect of Hebrew.
Taking a rather dreamy documentary approach to his narrative, Folman presents his story through the eyes of his own experience as he tries to uncover his lost memory involving the Lebanon War twenty years past. Through this direct approach to storytelling, the movie immediately achieves a sense of realism, and when used in combination with the other worldly animation that merges with the technique style used in the masterful A Scanner Darkly, strikes a poignant balance between dream-like reminiscence and in-the-moment revelation. In this sense Folman manages to bridge the gap between flashback and real-time storytelling.
Taking his time to talk to several people involved in the war along side himself, Folman presents his character as conducting interviews. Their names will appear in the corner of the screen, and the styles used often echo those found in documentaries. In essence then, what unfolds is virtually an animated documentary of sorts, telling the story of how Folman in real life eventually begins to remember his time serving as a soldier.
Although this straight forward approach to indulging in something of an honest perspective history lesson involving the Lebanon War provides ample interest; It is when Folman uses the animation present in his film to propel forth his story that the project excels; traveling back into his memories of the war itself and presenting first hand accounts. Through these scenes the film goes to great lengths to provide both hard hitting accounts on life during the war as a soldier, and surreal images which deal more with the psychological implications of war. It is during these sequences that Waltz with Bashir achieves its greatest sense of relevancy, merging all three elements of its presentation with grace, significance and well conceived direction. As a war movie, the film and Folman seem to refuse to take a stance on the general concept of war, instead showing what life was like during such times with little to no bias either way; like the masterpiece Apocalypse Now, Waltz with Bashir isn't interested in the politics involved, but more with the humanity that makes war breathe, shoot and come alive in fear. It's a story that lacks a position but is far greater off because of it; war is war and Folman knows this all too well, he just has his own personal story to tell… that is, once he remembers it.
For someone suffering from selective amnesia however, Folman tells a solid tale. Taken as a whole, Waltz with Bashir is a slow moving, but well delivered and insightful piece of cinema that not only sheds light on the people involved and a historical event often shadowed by larger accounts, but it allows the medium to breathe. There are some problems included here, but only in minor details, most of which reside in the somewhat oddly placed third act that shows paradoxically Israeli Soldiers, certainly some of them reported in the massacres, sometimes becoming systematic exterminators.
If this project is maybe considered as propaganda then it thankfully does not side with Israeli thinking nor does it side completely with Palestinian ideology. The massacre and harming of civilians is certainly not acceptable. Yet as we watch we begin to see the chaos and uncaring attitude of the proprietors of the massacre and War.
Children with RPGs in fields, Soldiers urinating on enemy corpses, Palestinians lined up and shot...Waltz with Bashir holds no punches in criticizing itself.
Nevertheless there is no denying that what Folman has to say here is not only important and relevant to us many years on, but that it forms a story that moves, feels alive and isn't afraid to ridicule the people in power and the military drones. There are moments of tension, comedy and insightful characterization that go beyond even the most overt of films that force such elements down your throat. Instead Waltz with Bashir is a gradually enveloping affair that slowly reveals itself as the runtime comes to a close. Taking full advantage of the animated medium and combining it with a beautiful score and a coherent, intelligent and enlightening script, Folman delivers a memorable and confronting biographical drama that is always interesting to watch, even if it all does feel like a nightmarish dream...Waltz with Bashir taunts us into waking up and shows us this nightmare is real.
October 9, 2020
Não é tão impactante quanto o filme, mas continua sendo muito bom. Um exercício de reconstrução da memória e de enfrentamento dos traumas, que termina do único jeito possível, mostrando que a realidade é sempre pior que nossos pesadelos.
December 8, 2019
grafik roman olarak eksik ve konudan uzak kalmis. orjinal animasyonu seyretmek lazim kanaatimce.
April 7, 2022
A graphic non fiction book about the least known "Sabra and Shatila massacre" during the Lebanese civil war and the long term post traumatic psychological effects on the Israeli soldiers who witnessed this massacre.
June 20, 2024
I love the drawing style and enjoyed the movie. But I truly believe that when we come to define a conflict by one event, we take away from all the other victims who deserve to be remembered. The war in Lebanon ground on for 15 years. The Sabra and Shatila massacre (brutal as it was) was only one of many horrific events that marked the war.
January 10, 2015
Ari Folman’s non-fiction memoir Waltz with Bashir is an intriguing piece of literary work. Published soon after the film version, Waltz with Bashir includes a variety of impressive artistic transitions and elements. Although the story is considered a memoir and non-fiction, it has many strange and unnatural encounters in it.
Waltz with Bashir tells the story of 19 year old Ari Folman and his experiences as an Israeli soldier during the Lebanon War in 1982. However, decades later Ari for some reason cannot recall any events that he has allegedly participated in during his military service. Unsettled by his loss of memory, Ari sets out across his homeland of Israel and across the world to find people who served with him to fill in the gaps of his mind.
As a reader of Waltz with Bashir, I found it to be very entertaining. With exception to certain moment in the story with comic relief, it is a rather serious and unsettling story. I often enjoy these kinds of stories because I enjoy witnessing the human drive to endure hard times. If you are someone who also enjoys this kind of reading as well as mystery, I recommend that you set aside some time for Waltz with Bashir.
Waltz with Bashir tells the story of 19 year old Ari Folman and his experiences as an Israeli soldier during the Lebanon War in 1982. However, decades later Ari for some reason cannot recall any events that he has allegedly participated in during his military service. Unsettled by his loss of memory, Ari sets out across his homeland of Israel and across the world to find people who served with him to fill in the gaps of his mind.
As a reader of Waltz with Bashir, I found it to be very entertaining. With exception to certain moment in the story with comic relief, it is a rather serious and unsettling story. I often enjoy these kinds of stories because I enjoy witnessing the human drive to endure hard times. If you are someone who also enjoys this kind of reading as well as mystery, I recommend that you set aside some time for Waltz with Bashir.
March 29, 2021
Graphic novel di stampo documentaristico che ci racconta la Guerra del Libano del 1982 e della quale, so, è stata fatta anche la trasposizione cinematografica diretta da Ari Folman, che io non ho visto. Purtroppo.
Dico purtroppo perché forse, questa era una storia talmente complessa da essere più adatta a uno schermo che a una breve graphic novel come questa…che, dal punto di vista tecnico sarà un ottimo lavoro, ma dal punto di vista emotivo, non è riuscita a coinvolgermi: le immagini scaturite dai disegni, bellissimi, risultano troppo frettolose, frammentarie per una vicenda che porta con sé una grande carico di complessità e di profondità.
Se lo si legge tutto d’un fiato (un’ora basta) senza avere un contorno, senza essersi rivisiti il contesto, si rischia di comprendere poco e dunque, come lettori, di venire poco coinvolti. Forse le immagini stesse di “Valzer con Bashir”, sono state studiate proprio per trarne un film, che era meglio guardare prima di affrontare la lettura. Dieci e lode, invece, al coraggio di disegnare e diffondere questo tragico pezzo di storia.
Dico purtroppo perché forse, questa era una storia talmente complessa da essere più adatta a uno schermo che a una breve graphic novel come questa…che, dal punto di vista tecnico sarà un ottimo lavoro, ma dal punto di vista emotivo, non è riuscita a coinvolgermi: le immagini scaturite dai disegni, bellissimi, risultano troppo frettolose, frammentarie per una vicenda che porta con sé una grande carico di complessità e di profondità.
Se lo si legge tutto d’un fiato (un’ora basta) senza avere un contorno, senza essersi rivisiti il contesto, si rischia di comprendere poco e dunque, come lettori, di venire poco coinvolti. Forse le immagini stesse di “Valzer con Bashir”, sono state studiate proprio per trarne un film, che era meglio guardare prima di affrontare la lettura. Dieci e lode, invece, al coraggio di disegnare e diffondere questo tragico pezzo di storia.
April 15, 2015
Zugegeben, ich bin enttäuscht von dem Buch, weil es meinen Erwartungen kaum gerecht wurde. Die Handlung ist das reinste Puzzle, strukturarm und fragmentiert. Ich sah mich stets mit den Erinnerungsfetzen einzelner Personen konfrontiert, die ich immer schwerer untereinander vernetzen konnte und ich bis zum Schluss das Gefühl in mir trug, die Geschichte ist unvollständig. Der historische Hintergrund zur Ermorderung des libanesischen Parteiführers Bashir Gemayel 1982 und dem folgenden Massaker in den Flüchtlingslagern Sabra und Schatila wird völlig unzureichend erklärt, wodurch es unmöglich ist, die politischen und gesellschaftlichen Zusammenhänge zu verstehen, wenn der Leser kein Vorwissen mitbringt. Sicher, die Macht der Bilder spricht für sich. Diese lebensechten und eindrucksvollen Zeichnungen allein konnten mich letztendlich auch wieder etwas mit dem Buch versöhnen.
April 4, 2010
This is a powerful use of the comic medium. It shows the bazaar mix of reality and unreality that war can bring. At the end there is a great switch from comic to real footage of the massacre discussed in the entire book.
The strength of this book is that is shows the complexity of the Palestinian/Israeli conflict. This is just one of many atrocities that has taken place throughout the conflict. It kindof brought into focus for me why long term peace is so illusive in this region.
There is also a movie version of this book, but it has subtitles.
Excerpt, I would use in class would be the scene where the character waltzes in gunfire and the end which shows how the massacre took place while it seems everyone turned a blind eye.
The strength of this book is that is shows the complexity of the Palestinian/Israeli conflict. This is just one of many atrocities that has taken place throughout the conflict. It kindof brought into focus for me why long term peace is so illusive in this region.
There is also a movie version of this book, but it has subtitles.
Excerpt, I would use in class would be the scene where the character waltzes in gunfire and the end which shows how the massacre took place while it seems everyone turned a blind eye.
April 19, 2010
i will admit to seeing the movie of this first...but as far as i can tell the book was put together from movie material. in any case, both works are extremely potent. Ari Folman uses the comic format to deliver a digestible, intensely emotional account of his connection to the sabra and shatila massacre in 1982. the story of over a thousand Palestinian and Lebanese Muslims slaughtered by Christian Phalangists comes in steps as Folman gives us his own and fellow Isreali soldiers' recaptured memories of the horrific time. this is an amazing chronicle of the shock of war conveyed through the all too human trait, memory.
May 10, 2024
i didn’t know this was going to be a story about an israeli soldier’s “trauma” when i picked up this book. and even though it is i wouldn’t have minded had it been more critical of him instead of trying to create pity. weird!!!!! the story over exaggeratedly portrays him as the victim, as if he didn’t make an active choice but instead was somehow dragged into taking on the role of a “nazi”.. being 19 and afraid doesn’t excuse his committing of war crimes at alll, i couldn’t feel sorry.
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