Waltz With Bashir Memories Of War

1381 Words3 Pages

Steve Skulmoski
Anne Cumming
English 230
2014, 05, 13

Memories of war in the motion picture Waltz with Bashir.

War is remembered by those who have lived it in many different ways. Many survivors try to forget, while many others want to tell their story so others understand what they went through. Some will make up illusions in order to cope with the reality, while others are plagued with guilt. The most interesting by far are those that cannot remember their life changing experiences except in the form of flashbacks and dissociations. These types of memory are apparent in the film Waltz with Bashir (Folman,
2008). The film explores Folman’s journey to recall what his role was in the first Lebanon-Israeli war, through a series of flashbacks and interviews with his former comrades. Folman is reminded of his role in the Sabra and Shatila Massacre when he explores the memories of his own recollections, compiled with those of his comrades. Folman is forced to face a memory he has long since forgotten and blocked out, or so he thought. He has his first flashback 20 years later of falling para-flairs and the faces of women and children in the glow of the light. Using the film Waltzing with Bashir as a narrative tool, I hope to show the reader how war memory is a very unique, important, individual and fragile thing.

Many Soldiers and survivors of war are plagued by a phenomenon known as survivor’s guilt. This state of mind happens when a soldier lives through a war and his comrades do not. Often soldiers are ri... ... middle of paper ...

...fragmented memories of war are important. In the special features of the DVD version of the film,
Folman is quoted as saying during an interview "I believe that there are thousands of Israeli ex-soldiers that kept their war memories deeply repressed. They might live the rest of their lives like that, without anything ever happening. But it could always burst out one day, causing who knows what to happen to them. That's what post-traumatic stress disorder is all about." war memory is a very unique and fragile thing, and only through these memories of soldiers who have survived the fight will we ever have a chance of rationalizing war.

Bibliography
Folman A. (Writer/Director). (2008). Waltz with Bashir [Motion picture]. Israel: Bridgit Folman Film Gang. (Information retrieved from Hebrew language version of DVD)

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