The Inhumanity of humans
The
word 'Sunday' conjures an image of a warm summer breeze, sunny day and a
scenery of the countryside in my mind. When I was a kid, Sundays meant
going to the morning mass with dad, feeding the pigeons by the temple,
coming home and watching the show 'Mahabharat' on TV while eating
mouth-watering idlis and dosas made by my mother. The rest of the day
would pass away in either playing carom with my siblings or cycling
through the lanes of Goregaon. Now, after a decade, I still continue to
laze on Sundays but now, my preferred options are movies.
I had heard a lot of this war-documentary animated movie called 'Waltz with Bashir'. It has won countless awards the world over including the prestigious Golden Globe award for Best Foreign Language film 2008. Generally, I do not watch documentaries but I couldn't ignore the list of accolades won by it or the glowing reviews given by movie critics the world over. And so decided to watch it on a rainy Sunday and see what the talk was all about.
The movie deals with Israeli filmmaker Ari Folman and his quest to reclaim his memories of his time served in the army, back. The movie follows him as he travels to various places in order to catch up with men who had served along with him in the 1982 Lebanon war. The movie is completely animated except for the last shot which is actual news footage. The dark colour palette of the animation, the characters, the narrative and the haunting background score make up for an engaging experience (I particularly enjoyed listening to the score in the dream squence)
The movie is a triumphant work for Folman. It is not a movie where one is simply shown the horrors of war and make you question its senselessness. It draws you in it. It doesn't dramatize the events, it shows it the way they were. The audience, like Folman, are made to experience the individual stories as are recounted by Folman's friends in the movie. It creeps you out, it saddens you, it enrages you, it makes you clench your fist and stamp your foot in anger and in the end makes you feel helpless against the tragedy unfolding the world over in the name of 'Peace'. Truly, given the current political situation, Waltz with Bashir is the perfect metaphor. It makes you look into your consciousness and question ourselves: Is there a point to all this?
Waltz with Bashir is not your regular entertainment film. It is a psychological lecture. It is a gem of a movie. It gives us a glimpse into the levels to which mankind can stoop to assert their dominance. A section of the movie focuses on the Sabra and Shatila massacre. I'm sure after watching that part, you too would feel ashamed, just the way I did. It just shows us the aftermath of a single massacre that took place during the war. Today, we read in the papers or see in the news about the hundreds of people killed or injured in wars and conflicts. Isn't the murder of a single person bad enough? It is never the death of a single person, it is the death of his world along with him.
I thoroughly recommend that you take time out from your lives and immerse into the thought-provoking experience that is Waltz with Bashir. Released in 2008, the movie stays relevant to this day and will continue to do so until the word 'WAR' exists in mankind's dictionary.The movie raised several questions in my mind and left images that cannot be ignored (especially the climactic sequence when we understand Folman's dream). No wonder why it has been listed by Empire magazine as one of the Best films of World Cinema.
“Out of pure fear and anxiety we start shooting like lunatics,”
“At whom?”
“How do I know?
“Then, an old Mercedes drives up. Everyone fires at it like crazy. Two years of training and the fear, the uncontrollable fear…..
Then the silence…..
The terrible silence of death….”
I had heard a lot of this war-documentary animated movie called 'Waltz with Bashir'. It has won countless awards the world over including the prestigious Golden Globe award for Best Foreign Language film 2008. Generally, I do not watch documentaries but I couldn't ignore the list of accolades won by it or the glowing reviews given by movie critics the world over. And so decided to watch it on a rainy Sunday and see what the talk was all about.
The movie deals with Israeli filmmaker Ari Folman and his quest to reclaim his memories of his time served in the army, back. The movie follows him as he travels to various places in order to catch up with men who had served along with him in the 1982 Lebanon war. The movie is completely animated except for the last shot which is actual news footage. The dark colour palette of the animation, the characters, the narrative and the haunting background score make up for an engaging experience (I particularly enjoyed listening to the score in the dream squence)
The movie is a triumphant work for Folman. It is not a movie where one is simply shown the horrors of war and make you question its senselessness. It draws you in it. It doesn't dramatize the events, it shows it the way they were. The audience, like Folman, are made to experience the individual stories as are recounted by Folman's friends in the movie. It creeps you out, it saddens you, it enrages you, it makes you clench your fist and stamp your foot in anger and in the end makes you feel helpless against the tragedy unfolding the world over in the name of 'Peace'. Truly, given the current political situation, Waltz with Bashir is the perfect metaphor. It makes you look into your consciousness and question ourselves: Is there a point to all this?
Waltz with Bashir is not your regular entertainment film. It is a psychological lecture. It is a gem of a movie. It gives us a glimpse into the levels to which mankind can stoop to assert their dominance. A section of the movie focuses on the Sabra and Shatila massacre. I'm sure after watching that part, you too would feel ashamed, just the way I did. It just shows us the aftermath of a single massacre that took place during the war. Today, we read in the papers or see in the news about the hundreds of people killed or injured in wars and conflicts. Isn't the murder of a single person bad enough? It is never the death of a single person, it is the death of his world along with him.
I thoroughly recommend that you take time out from your lives and immerse into the thought-provoking experience that is Waltz with Bashir. Released in 2008, the movie stays relevant to this day and will continue to do so until the word 'WAR' exists in mankind's dictionary.The movie raised several questions in my mind and left images that cannot be ignored (especially the climactic sequence when we understand Folman's dream). No wonder why it has been listed by Empire magazine as one of the Best films of World Cinema.
“Out of pure fear and anxiety we start shooting like lunatics,”
“At whom?”
“How do I know?
“Then, an old Mercedes drives up. Everyone fires at it like crazy. Two years of training and the fear, the uncontrollable fear…..
Then the silence…..
The terrible silence of death….”
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