The Thousands

War might be hell, but it’s also totally awesome, right? That’s the message embedded in most war movies. François Truffaut even claimed it’s impossible to make an anti-war film, as the big screen automatically turns bodies and bullets into fodder for spectacular cinematic ka-boom.

Ari Folman’s animated kinda-documentary Waltz With Bashir makes a convincing case that Truffaut was wrong. Ari’s wondering about the first Lebanon War in the ’80s. He was there; he fought and probably killed for Israel; but he can’t actually remember the details, so he interviews his old friends and comrades to see what’s what.

And okay, Truffaut, okay – the war flashbacks absolutely pop. The stylised animation makes everything hyper-real, drenched in colour, moving dream-like to pop and punk from the 1980s. What makes Waltz With Bashir different from the rising tide of well-meaning war films is how its visuals lead up to a specific – and shattering – conclusion.

If we make sense of war by seeing it as a music video, or a Hollywood montage, or a first-person shooter… well, what happens when the comforting screen we’re watching finally falls apart?