Waltzing with a machine gun...

[eumelia]

I've just come back from a movie.

Probably the most important move I've ever seen (or will see) my whole life.

Memory is something we're told to cherish and hold close to our hearts and to never let go of the memories.
Memories are who we are.

I've just come back from watching a movie.
It's an animated feature.
The genre is slippery; it could be a documentary, a biopic or even just your run of the mill (anti)war movie.
But it's not just any of those things.
It's a movie about what we don't want to deal with.

Waltz with Bashir is a movie about how we remember and don't remember and why.
Knowing the details of Sabra and Shatila, the Phalangists and Israel's own complicity in what happened doesn't prepare you for this fragmented tale of memory and the remembering of memories... not forgotten... just... gone away.

Not coherent I know.

I'm still speechless and weepy.
Remembering my own images of war - which were removed from me by cameras and screens and radio coms - the animation helps to keep the gory details away, just like memory filters away those terrible images and you remember them... but without the impact that will have you shaking and sobbing and vomiting.

Maybe tomorrow I'll be able to write something that will make sense.
Maybe not.

If it's in a cinema near you... go see it.
Go.
Just... go.

Comments

[sadie-sabot.livejournal.com]

I am planning to see that as soon as I'm able to.

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

It's brilliant.

[ninboydean.livejournal.com]

Apparently, there isn't a U.S. release?? Am I missing something? I really want to see this, and have since I first heard of it.

[mao4269.livejournal.com]

The U.S. release was in October 2008....

[mao4269.livejournal.com]

Though it looks like the non-festival release in the U.S. was late December: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1185616/releaseinfo.

[shelestel.livejournal.com]

that's sabs' friend with palestinian roots: http://esizzle.livejournal.com/649534.html

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

I will definitely write an entry concerning that article.

Thanks for bringing it to my attention.

Edited to add: wrote a post concerning the article (http://eumelia.livejournal.com/383201.html).

[esizzle.livejournal.com]

The thought that those involved in the massacre would find the film cathartic is actually one of the things that worried me by the time I reached the end of that movie. Not because I wish any harm. I'm all for putting the past behind, once some honest acknowledgement is made. I didn't think the film showed the huge extent of the military responsibility the crime. Instead I just heard this guy trying to come clean and therefore redeeming himself but without the honest acknowledgement part. At the end of the day he gets to feel like he created something good and make witty speeches at his film festivals.

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

Would you care to expand on the "without honest acknowledgement" part?
Because I thought the movie was very glaring in the IDF's complicity of what happened.

[esizzle.livejournal.com]

ya it does try, but it doesn't go all the way. i didn't elaborate cause i figured u knew what i meant already. I mean, what did u think the author of the article u talk about later was referring to when she wrote that the film goes a long way in revising Israeli history? What about Ariel Sharon's role, i.e. high ranking military officials? Plus the IDF were not just lighting the way for the Phalange, they were surrounding the perimiter, preventing any way to escape the camps. am i wrong? And who trained the phalange? Who co-ordinated the logistics? Who trained the Phalange?

And why does the film make it look like it came as a surprise to everyone that the atrocity had happened? That is hard to believe. And portraying it as a surprise conveniently alleviates the extent of complicity which is suspicious.

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

Ah, okay, I see what you meant.

And why does the film make it look like it came as a surprise to everyone that the atrocity had happened?
I think if you read my latest post I try to answer that question.
Another thing is that the movie, as you and the author of the article say, doesn't address the entirety of the complicity of Israel within the machinations on Lebanon in general or in Sabra and Shatila in general because it's showing the memories of those at the bottom of the chain of command who really have no clue (nor do they now generally speaking) know what the hell they're doing.
I'm not saying this to remove responsibility, not at all, all I'm saying that this is the way we are raised and also the way the IDF trains the soldiers... to not think about what it is they're doing.
No excuses.
Just... how it is at the moment and it's part of what sustains the occupation and the conflict, no doubt.
I think the movie, specifically, shows that aspect of Israeli society and life very well.

[esizzle.livejournal.com]

Yes I understand it leaves things out in order to tell a personable and artsy story from the experience of one person. Oh those poor poor soldiers. Ari gets to redeem himself and the soldiers can all redeem themselves because they were just following orders. We know because all militaries train soldiers to just follow orders. But what do the victims of Ari get? That's why I said in my initial comments that I'm disturbed this film would be cathartic to some.

Cause what do the victims get? He could have shown some respect by telling his victims' full story besides focusing on convenient, artsy and decontextualised half-truths. And that's not even the least he could do, the least he could do, as an Israeli, is show some respect to our intelligence instead of portraying the Phalange as the monsters they are while Israel as the naive accomplice, given the long list of massacres committed directly by Israel and, in the way things are currently heading, we have not seen the end of.

[esizzle.livejournal.com]

and I think it's different responsibilities, when someone is just an 18 year old soldier following orders, versus when your a grown man making a film. so i just wanted to note i see the difference.. and the difference between actually being in the war right at that moment, or reflecting back years later, like 2 different ppl.

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

The victims are neglected throughout the movie because Ari doesn't remember committing the crime.
It's not in his system.
I thought and felt that putting the "real life" footage when he "remembers" at the end of the film made the movie more than artsy and convenient.
More to the point the victims story isn't the one Folman was trying to tell - it should and needs to be told, but that wasn't his to tell, I think.

As for the catharsis... that was my own personal reaction, I know of some who left the movie appalled and in shock - because they had no idea what had actually happened at Sabra and Shatila.

[esizzle.livejournal.com]

ya i'm glad you'll agree that the palestinian story isn't his to tell.
he tells it none the less, though, intentionally or unintentionally. you might not agree with that. i'd be fine with leaving that at here if you want.

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

Ta very much :)

I'm glad you came here to comment, always good to have lots of voices and discussions.
Especially on issues that aren't spoken about enough.