Waltz with Bashir (2008)

Waltz with Bashir (2008) is an arresting animated documentary by Ari Folman in which the filmmaker tries to reconstruct lost memories from his service in the 1982 Lebanon War. Triggered by a friend's recurring nightmare about 26 dogs, Folman travels, interviews former comrades and veterans, and pieces together a fragmented, increasingly nightmarish inner narrative. The film uses stylized, surreal animation to dramatize memory, dreams and the fog of war, then shifts toward documentary testimony and concludes with stark archival footage that grounds the film’s revelations in historical reality. Viewers will experience a hypnotic, often unsettling journey that blends investigative reporting with intimate confession. The animation transforms recollection into vivid, poetic sequences—chasing figures, shifting landscapes, and dream logic—that convey the emotional truth of trauma more than literal reconstruction. As Folman’s inquiries deepen, tension mounts and fragmented images coalesce into painful recognition, making the viewer feel the uneasy process of remembering and the moral weight of collective responsibility. Emotionally intense and thought-provoking, Waltz with Bashir is part memory-play, part detective story and part elegy. It’s visually inventive and sonically haunting, and it can be disturbing when it confronts wartime violence and guilt. Audiences should expect a powerful, cinematic meditation on memory, loss and the human cost of conflict that lingers long after the credits roll.

Actors: Ari Folman, Ron Ben-Yishai, Ronny Dayag

Director: Ari Folman

Runtime: 90 min

Genres: Animation, Biography, Documentary

7.5 /10 91 /100 8.0 /10 8.2 /10