Review

Waltz with Bashir is a harrowing seminal-documentary tale of a man's journey to regain the memories he has blocked about a horrific period in his life - the 1982 Lebanon War. The story is told from the perspective of Ari Folman, the writer and director of the movie, but more importantly, the man who is trying to recall his memories from the war. You following Ari as he talks to colleagues who were with him during the war as he tries to piece together more and more of the horrendous memories he has long forgotten.

The movie culminates in the final and most disturbing missing memories Ari's mind is withholding, those of the Sabra and Shatila massacre. I found the final scenes truly horrific, and like the main protagonist, I could forget what I had just witnessed - however, in forgetting or ignoring difficult memories such as these only lead to further wars and terrible acts of terrorism. Movies like these are a great way of making sure these memories are never forgotten and even though these events are distressful and sickening they should never be allowed to be simply forgotten.

I would highly recommend this movie as an interesting portrayal of the personal and mental toll war can have. However, beware, although this movie is animated it is very graphic and the overall tone and message is extremely dark.