Howdy!

Nyt on hyvä fiilis. Kuuntelen Manic Street Preachersia ja syön JÄTSKIÄ. Vaikka jo nämä tekijät yleensä riittäisi aiheuttamaan hyvän fiiliksen, on siihen tällä kertaa ihan erityinen syy. Palautin juuri äsken proseminaariesitelmäni, jota olen työstänyt koko syksyn. Ajoittain aika isostikin. En ole ihan kaikilta osin tyytyväinen mun esitelmään ja tiedän, että joudun työstämään sitä vielä jonkin verran seminaarikäsittelyn jälkeenkin. Silti tää on hyvä juttu.

Seminaariesitelmäni käsittelee kolmen suomalaislehden uutisointia Sabran ja Shatilan joukkomurhista syyskuussa 1982. Jos joku jostain syystä on kiinnostunut aiheesta, kannattaa ehdottomasti katsoa Ari Folmanin huikea elokuva Waltz with Bashir. Kuvassa animoitu Ari Beirutin Cornichella.

Viikonloppu meni myös tosi mukavasti. Olin faijani ja pikkubroidini Ilmarin kanssa Jyväskylässä MUMMOLASSA. Lauantaina tosin meni ehkä VÄHÄN yli, sillä kävimme KEILAAMASSSA jyväskyläläisen kaverini Timon kanssa. Olen täysin surkea keilaamaan, mutta ajattelin että eihän se haittaa. Pääasia että keilaillaan ja jubaillaan ja silleen.

Nojoo, oli oikeastaan tosi kivaa, mutta olin jopa odotettua surkeampi. Kaverini Timo oli täysin suvereeni. Osakseni jäi kilpailla kakkossijasta broidini Ilmarin (13v) kanssa. Hävisin tämänkin taiston surkeasti. En oikein tiedä mikä suorituksessani jääti. Kokeilin erilaisia palloja, erilaisia vauhteja ja erilaisia MIELIKUVIA. Silti mikään ei toiminut. Paras kierrokseni oli 68 pistettä. Ne jotka ovat joskus keilanneet, tietävät että kädetön koala saisi varmaan silmät kiinni yhtä paljon pisteitä.

Koalat on aika vekkuleita. Tällä on vielä kädetkin tallella.

No ei tästä sen enempää. Menimme illalla saunaan. Puulämmitteiset saunat on tosi jees, koska niissä on joku tuoksu tai jotain jota sähkösaunoissa ei ole. Illalla pelasin vielä rundin AFRIKAN TÄHTEÄ ennen kuin menin nukkumaan. Hävisin senkin. Mummoni voitti. Sunnuntaina ajoimme takaisin Stadiin, onneksi en joutunut itse ajamaan sillä oli sumuista ja märkää. Pelasin autossa Football Manageria läppärilläni ja kuuntelin musaa. Kuuntelin seuraavat levyt:

- The Libertines – Up the Bracket
- Belle and Sebastian – Dear Catastrophe Waitress
- Weezer – Green Album

Autossa on kiva kuunnella vähän menevämpää musaa, tosin mulla oli ihan hyvät kuulokkeet ja voisin kuunnella noista melkein mitä vain myös kotona. Kotiin tultuani selvitin mieltäni pitkään askarruttaneen kysymyksen: mitä Up the Bracket tarkoittaa? 2000-luvun coolein bändi ei saletisti nimeä niiden debyyttialbumia sulkumerkkien mukaan. Kaverini Google kertoi, että Up the Bracket on Pete Dohertyn suosikkikoomikon käyttämä termi iskulle kurkkuun. Ilmeisesti se voi tarkoittaa myös kokainiin käyttöä.

Huomenna pitäisi taas opiskella. Aloitin proseminaariesitelmän palauttamisen jälkeisen henkisen tyhjiön täyttämisen ilmoittautumalla kaupunkitutkimuksen tenttiin. EI HYVÄÄ ILTAA! Pitää hakea kirjat huomenna. Ehkä menen myös unicafeen ja kirjastoon. Aikamoista.

Tällästä tänään. Ihan kiva välillä olla viikonloppu ottamatta BÖNTTÖÖ. Ensi viikolla taas ehkä. Sitä ennen pitäkää KOTKA PÄÄLLÄ!

During the winter quarter of my last year at UCSB, I took an English course through my LCI specialization entitled “Narratives of War.”  The course studied 20th-century war literature from a contemporary perspective and explored questions related to smart war and the advancement of drones and other military technology, total war, just war, trauma and healing, models and perceptions of the enemy and the “other,” and how human rights are re-negotiated in the war on terror.  We studied novels, fictionalized memoirs, graphic novels, poetry, essays, films and documentaries, video games and media projects, and various online resources related to current conflicts.  Some of my favorite works from the course were Pat Barker’s Regeneration and Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, Etel Adnan’s Sitt Marie-Rose, Susan Sontag’s Regarding the Pain of Others, and Apocalypse Now, Jarhead, and Waltz With Bashir.

As part of the honors section of the course with the professor, we created a blog to contribute additional materials and met weekly to talk about them.  While this course was gruesome and disconcerting more often than not, its relevance to the world today was fascinating.  I learned so much and, more importantly, how much I don’t know.  We covered topics that resonated with me deeply for various reasons, and encouraged me to research and think more critically about how conflicts, wars, and violence around the globe are affecting people and societies in ways that are less than intuitive.  This was the course that covered what should be in the news, but isn’t, and what people should be educating themselves about, but aren’t.  For that reason I’m grateful to have been made aware of some small fraction of the larger problem.

1982. As forças armadas Israelitas invadem o sul do Líbano após as cidades do norte de Israel terem sido bombardeadas por anos desde o território Libanês. Ariel Sharon, na época ministro da defesa de Israel, desejava garantir a presidência de Bashir Gemayel. Em troca da ajuda israelense, Ariel Sharon esperava de Gemayel, uma vez instalado como presidente, a assinatura de um tratado de paz com Israel, presumivelmente estabilizando para sempre a fronteira norte de Israel. Bashir se tornou um dos principais comandantes das Falanges Libanesas, uma milícia cristã de extrema-direita, apoiada por Israel, e que lutava contra os muçulmanos nacionalistas libaneses e os militantes palestinos. Ele liderou várias campanhas militares contra as tropas Sírias. Eleito presidente em 1982 com o apoio de Israel, Bashir morreu aos 35 anos vítima da explosão de uma bomba colocada na sede das Falanges, em Achrafieh, distrito cristão de Beirute, no mesmo ano.

A morte de Bashir desencadeou uma revolta das forças cristãs contra o Líbano. O ato mais conhecido foi o massacre de Sabra e Shatila, onde soldados matavam cruelmente refugiados civis palestinos. O massacre ocorreu em uma área diretamente controlada pelo exército israelense durante a invasão do Líbano. A Corte Suprema de Israel considerou o Ministro da Defesa do país, Ariel Sharon, pessoalmente responsável pelo massacre, por ter falhado na proteção aos refugiados. O número de vítimas não é bem conhecido e, conforme a fonte, a estimativa pode variar de algumas centenas a 3.500 pessoas. Sharon, quando candidato a Primeiro-ministro de Israel, lamentou as mortes e negou qualquer responsabilidade. A repercussão do massacre, entretanto, fez com que ele fosse demitido do cargo de Ministro da Defesa, na época.

Valsa com Bashir tem seu início em uma bar, quando o diretor Ari Folman se encontra com um velho amigo para conversar sobre um pesadelo recorrente. O amigo conta que todas as noites sonhava com exatamente 26 cães loucos por seu sangue. Os dois chegam à conclusão de que o pesadelo é uma lembrança do que o amigo viveu na guerra do Líbano. O diretor Ari Folman se surpreende pois sua mente apagou todas as lembranças daquele período em que serviu nas forças israelitas. Intrigado, ele decide visitar e entrevistar seus amigos e companheiros, pois sente necessário descobrir a verdade sobre aquele tempo e sobre si mesmo. A medida em que mergulha em seu passado, sua memória é ativada e imagens antes reprimidas vêm a tona.

O documentário tinha a necessidade de ser uma animação, extremamente bem feita, para colocar uma barreira visual entre o horror daquela época de guerra e os espectadores. O uso do lúdico, da animação para interpretar as memórias do diretor e de seus amigos, de alguma forma nos dá a dimensão da realidade. O espectador sente cada sentimento e loucura dos soldados. Cada dor e perda dos impotentes civis que estavam no meio de uma guerra política. A surpresa de que no final vemos as imagens reais do massacre de Junho de 1982, cadáveres de toda sorte de pessoas, desde crianças até senhores de idade. Os gritos das mulheres que perderam suas casas e família é simplesmente um soco no estômago. Ver do que o Ser Humano é capaz, se invalidar, negar a humanidade e ser nada menos do que seres irracionais, menos do que animais, nos amedronta, nos tira o fôlego.

O filme convida a discutirmos o rumo que nosso mundo esta tomando e o que fazemos para melhorá-lo. Não digo na questão de se armar e ir para a guerra, muito pelo contrário. O importante é buscar a paz em nosso dia a dia sem nunca nos esquecermos do passado. Manter o passado vivo e não repetir os erros. Esta é a lição que aprendi com Ari Folman.

P.S.: Assisti o filme na terça-feira, 31/03. Ganhei as entradas através dotwitter do Omelete. O site oficial deles é esse aqui e também está nos links aí ao lado =)

Sometimes I, when I am not being made crazy by his third-grader shenanigans, think I should be sitting at my youngest son’s feet learning the secrets of life and the wisdom of the world. You have already been made privy to his theological opining. Now listen to an example of the kind of things he says while reading the comics in the morning paper:

Youngest Son: Who’s Ken Burns?

Yiddishe Mamme: He’s a documentary filmmaker. He’s made film series about things like baseball and the Civil War. He just made one about the National Parks.

YS: What do you call a person who makes movies? A book writer is an author and a painter is an artist. So what do you call a person who makes movies?

YM: A filmmaker.

YS: Oh. Authors, artists and filmmakers are important people.

YM: What do they do that is important?

YS: They entertain us.

YM: How do they do that?

YS: You know – artists make pictures we can gaze [his word] at, authors make books we can read, and filmmakers make movies we can watch.

YM: So why is that so important?

YS: Because otherwise we would just be running up and down the sidewalks with nothing to do.

Now, that’s an image to ponder. Just like the ones cartoonists and animators put in their work for us to think about. I am a big fan of these artists, because I think that cartoons, comics, animated films and graphic novels (aside from their being amusing) provide access to learning for those of us who are less verbally inclined, while concurrently helping the rest of us strengthen our visual literacy skills.

New and surprising subject matter for R. Crumb

We are all bombarded with images these days, but how many of us ever take the time to really look at something? Sure, we get the basic information we need to from the big picture, but we often miss out on gaining a nuanced understanding. In our fast paced world, we often forget that in many cases it is, as the saying goes, all in the details.

There are those who would think that an illustrated version amounts to a dumbing down of a text, that a cartoon or animated work is a complicated idea made simple for either young children or the lesser literates among us. On the contrary, many highly talented and intellectual authors, visual artists and filmmakers are opting for graphic novels and animated films as vehicles for expressing their own complex and layered thoughts, or to interpret classic or ancient narratives.

A page from JT Waldman's Megillat Esther

True, not every ouevre in this genre rises to the level of which I speak. Superhero, Archie or Pokémon comic books would not cut it. The works which I am lauding here are ones like JT Waldman’s Megillat Esther, a very sophisticated and knowledgeable depiction of the Book of Esther which visually intertwines multiple midrashic and Rabbinic commentaries with the biblical text, presenting them through illustrations that are at the same time delicately detailed and boldly raw. The Rabbi’s Cat, by Joann Sfar, although illustrated in a very different style (and in color rather than black and white), made its narrative – a clever and creative story of Jewish life in Algeria – similarly come alive.

A page from Joann Sfar's The Rabbi's Cat

Some graphic novels are meant to be less metaphorical and intend to simply illustrate an historic event or an experience from the author’s life. R. Crumb, in a recent interview on NPR, said that his work on his newly released The Book of Genesis was a “straight illustration job.”  I cannot comment on this new book by Crumb, since I have not yet had a chance to read it. However, I would say that in the case of Art Spiegelman’s Maus (the first graphic novel I read) or Will Eisner’s The Plot, both of which appear on the surface to be “straight illustration jobs,” are to a certain degree interpretive by nature of their genre.

Will Eisner explicates the origins and history of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion in The Plot

Sometimes even those of us with supposedly strong verbal intelligence just don’t “get it,” until someone draws us a picture. That was what happened for me with The Plot by Will Eisner.  I can’t tell you how many times I had read about the Protocols of the Elders of Zion during the course of my studies and as a teacher. It wan’t until I came across Eisner’s organized, methodical and detailed rendition of the long, convoluted and sordid history of this dangerous hoax that I finally fully grasped it.

Graphic novels, comics and cartoons vary widely in style and purpose. But at the core of this genre is the concept of the visual metaphor. That is what makes it so powerful and so useful not only for enjoyment by adults, but also for the education of children. In a curriculum I authored quite a number of years ago on the use of maxims and proverbs to teach morality, I included a lot of cartoons and comic strips. My high school students’ familiarity and ease with the comics’ metaphoric nature helped ease them into an in-depth study of the metaphoric imagery of classic Jewish and American maxims.

The first Palestinian animated film is the biography of a young woman who died because of the stigma of breast cancer in her culture and the political-military realities of the Middle East.

The box office popularity and critical acclaim of recent animated autobiographical films like Waltz With Bashir and Persepolis show that the animated graphic novel is catching on with an adult audience. I am eager to see a new film, the first animated one to come out of the Palestinian Territories. It is called Fatenah and tells the real and tragic tale of a young Palestinian woman’s struggle to have her breast cancer properly diagnosed and treated.

Even Disney’s The Prince of Egypt, which on the surface appears to be merely an animated feature length children’s movie, can be analyzed for its midrashic content and usage of visual metaphors to deepen the sparse biblical pshat narrative. Just ask my former students (who were also subjected to my using Waldman’s Megillat Esther as our main text for studying that book).

Sarah Lefton, a young Jewish educational entrepreneur, clearly apprehends the power of the cartoon, the visual metaphor and the art of animation. She, in her G-dcast project, has combined all three in an ingenious way to teach children – and all interested parties of any age – the weekly Torah portion. She has enlisted talented artists and writers, primarily the voices of the new Jewish generation, to show kids that comics are not just for laughs…but that that, in no way, should stop you from having a lot of fun with them.

© 2009 Renee Ghert-Zand. All rights reserved.

by Matthew Groves

Well it’s official, I had my first negative film experience at AFI Fest 2009.  To preface this though, I must say that there may be a little over-exaggeration here for a couple reasons.  One, I got out of one screening not too long before this film and I thought it was the best of the festival.  Two and lastly, for some reason, someone screwed up the order so they played the second chapter before the first.  The film is separated into multiple chapters, stating first chapter, second chapter, etc.  We noticed this because the film started with no title cards and jumped to the second chapter, it was literally separated into multiple chapters and then we got title cards and the prologue and the first chapter.  Despite these two problems, I still support my original position that I saw a film that as it progressed became more and more of a train wreck.  These first two chapters I thought were actually very good and effective, and that wasn’t my issue with that film, but the later chapters, where things became frustrating.  Oddly, as I have researched this film, it has won multiple awards including one at the famed and respected Cannes Film Festival and it is Israel’s foreign language Oscar entry, Ajami.

To be honest, I can’t really summarize the plot because the film got to the point where it juggled so many characters and storylines and then started to get so nonlinear I really couldn’t follow the events for that long in the later chapters.  There are a handful of central characters that are Palestinian youths, including Nasri (Fouad Habash) who is a partial narrator and brother of Omar (Shahir Kabaha) and then Omar is accompanied by fellow workers at a restaurant and friends, Malek (Ibrahim Frege) and Binji (co-writer/director Scandar Copti).  To be honest though, for the most part, that’s all I can tell plot wise from the film.  The film starts out pretty simple, but as it progresses from chapter to chapter it starts to juggle more and more minor characters and this film is nonlinear, multi-threaded film in the mold of something like Crash.  Much like the failure that is Crash, it tries to study important issues of race, class, religion, poverty, and crime in the Palestinian-Israeli experience, but honestly it draws so simply on all of those fronts that the film fails miserably by the end.  Also much like Crash, the film doesn’t focus and dig deep on it’s subject well enough to really say anything, hopefully, this film will not get nominated and become a foreign version of Crash.  We shall see.

One of the other frustrating things is this film illuminates a certain trend that has mostly died out, but this film proves it is not dead yet.  That trend is doing these broad multi-character, multi-thread nonlinear films dealing with social issues or situations.  Although, I don’t mean to demean all films that attempt this because there are ones that do similar things whether they are linear or nonlinear that really are great films.  Films such as City of God, Traffic, the works of Mexican director, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, and most recently the Italian gangster film, Gomorrah, which are precisely executed, rich, stunning and beautiful examples of where this kind of film can go right.  Some have praised Ajami comparing it to some of these films, but while these films are truly solid and almost perfectly executed and original films, Ajami plays like a bad mixture of all of them.  It plays like many of the films that were spawned from Crash including the all-too obvious titled, Crossing Over.  As the film progresses it really just gets more confusing, frustrating, muddled and overall convoluted.

To be perfectly honest, I tracked with and was liking this film for a while, but once the film tried to connect all the dots and get even more into flashbacks and what not the more the film suffered.  I would have given the film more credit for what it was trying if the structure and plotting wasn’t such a mess really though.   I gave Ajami that chance until it got wholly and dramatically absurd, including a stereotype, spoiler alert, killing off an innocent character in order to get a dramatic shock from the audience and while I would have praised a number of performances near the beginning of the film by the end, I was ready to walk out and became perturbed by the overall exercise.

So basically the film was poorly conceived exercise that confused and exacerbated this reviewer and made him honestly yearn for those other much better and brilliant films listed above.  If you are thinking of seeing of this film, please don’t and check out those other films and if you are looking for good cinema from both Israel and Palestine then check out films like The Bubble, although not an endorsement fully, because I haven’t seen it, Paradise Now, Ushpizin, and Waltz with Bashir.  Hopefully, the Academy will wise up and won’t acknowledge a film that is trying so much, but basically failing at most of what it is trying to accomplish.

Picture Source:

http://www.notes.co.il/giora/user/Ajami_poster.jpg

Do you ever have flashbacks from Lebanon?

Twenty years after the first Lebanon war, Israeli film director Ari Folman embarks on a journey to piece together memories of his role in the conflict, specifically the 1982 massacre of Palestinian civilians in the West Beirut refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila.

Waltz with Bashir is an animated documentary composed of interviews with Folman’s friends and fellow veterans of the Israeli Defence Force as they recall the horrific events of the war. As such, the film tells a series of stories pulled from the fragmented memories of its participants.

The decision to use animation was apparently due to the subjects’ unwillingness to appear on camera, but you get the sense that this is as much an artistic choice as one borne of necessity. The stylized medium affords Folman the freedom to visualize the more surreal and terrifying memories plucked from his subjects’ psyches, while also cementing his themes of perception and reality in the final minutes when the film makes a dramatic switch to live-action newsreel footage depicting the aftermath of the refugee camp massacre.

The horrors of war have been well-documented in both fiction film and documentary, yet Folman’s story is an intensely personal and imaginative take on the subject. This is more a film about altered perception and repressed memories than any specific commentary on the Lebanon conflict. I’ll admit to knowing embarrassingly little about the war in question. I viewed this as a story about the long-term effects of war on a person’s psyche and as an exploration of guilt and post-traumatic stress rather than an objective account of the Lebanon conflict. By its nature, the point of view is subjective, but the guilt is spread liberally across all sides, and this story is personal rather than overtly political.

The hand-drawn animation is stunning in its depiction of surreal, haunting memories and the ravages of war. In the very first scene, one of Folman’s friends recalls a dream  in which a pack of twenty-six snarling, ravenous dogs stalk him through the city. When Folman asks how he knows there are twenty-six, his friend tells the story of how he was ordered to kill dogs to silence their barking and prevent them from alerting their enemies. The memory had lain dormant for twenty years, but now he remembers every one of the twenty-six dogs he murdered, and they stalk him when he dreams at night  Always twenty-six, always baying for his blood. This is the story that sets Folman on his journey to discover his own repressed memories, and it’s an accurate microcosm of the film as a whole.

Towards the end there’s a growing sense that Folman’s journey through the past is as much a search for truth as it is an admission of guilt. The use of newsreel footage in the final few minutes is, intentionally or otherwise, a powerful affirmation of the film’s themes. I didn’t realise at the time, but watching these horrors unfold in an animated medium had left me strangely detached from the true horror beneath. I was lulled into a false sense of security, so much so that the shift to live action pictures of the refugee camp massacre left me well and  truly astounded. Just as, I imagine, Folman himself felt when his memories returned to haunt him.

A rare gem of a film. I can’t recommend it enough.

Waltz With Bashir [2008] [d. Ari Folman] [s. Ari Folman]

Waltz With Bashir is a visually striking animated retelling of the 1982 Lebanon War as recalled by Ari Folman.  The animation makes this film possible because if this was filmed in live action it would’ve cost well over $100m to make.  But the animation makes it possible for us to see the war as Folman saw it as he remembers each detail.  This film is so well done and the gradual unveiling of information gives it the added suspense.  I was not familiar with the Lebanon War and this really opened my eyes to it.  After watching this you will definitely have some idea of what happened there in 1982.  The music is also a wonderful addition to this film and gives it a unique characteristic to go with the already impressive look of it.  There are some images here that will definitely stick with you after watching this.  Some are not for those with a weak stomach.  I think it definitely did its job of showing you this is not a fictional story, this stuff really happened.  Very informative, very nice to look at, very interesting topic and a great telling of the story.  I think those of you who enjoy history, really good animation or even a good film about war, this is something you will want to track down.  This will stick with me for a while.  4/5

Waltz with Bashir is a very well done look into war and what people do to cope with what they have seen and done. Ari, the filmmaker, uses the movie as a means to investigate his own lost memories of his time served in the early 80’s during the War in Lebanon. As he interviews others trying to find people who remember, he discovers he is not alone. Many comrades have also blocked memories of the events, while others simply deny what occurred. The movie asks: “Am I a good person? Or do I simply not remember the evils I have committed upon others?” Twenty years later, it is only a conversation with a fellow friend plagued by nightmares that Ari’s memories begin to return.

The animation style looks like an advanced flash movie, using stark contrast or vivid color to draw the scenes and the people. The musical score is also well done and sets a sorrowful mood. The movie is almost entirely Hebrew with English subtitles.

The pacing is a bit slow; this is not a war movie. The plot is more of a detective story or documentary. Ari travels the world looking for answers, but often only finds only an additional piece of the puzzle and the name of someone who may know more. His hunt for clues and his own past also has him analyzing his dreams and those of his comrades.

I’d recommend Waltz of Bashir if it looks like it interests you. It’s a movie that requires an inquisitive and analyzing mind. You are not only shown what happens during a time of intense urban warfare but are asked to discover that mentality.

Mikkel anmelder den israelske animationsfilm Waltz With Bashir, som havde dansk premiere i februar 2009.

Lad det være sagt med det samme: Waltz With Bashir er en af de mest geniale og originale film, jeg har set i lang tid. Samtidig er det også en af de film, der har ramt mig hårdest rent følelsesmæssigt, selvom jeg normalt har et ret distanceret forhold til mediet. Waltz With Bashir behandler nogle virkeligt tunge spørgsmål og har en eminent ildevarslende stemning, der forløses i en uhyggeligt gribende slutning.

Tematisk kredser filmen om erindring og fortrængning af det traumatiske og ubehagelige, centreret omkring instruktøren Ari Folmans egne oplevelser som soldat i den israelske hær under invasionen af Libanon i 1982. Folman havde her en rolle i massakrerne i de palæstinensiske flygtningelejre Sabra og Shatila. Hvorvidt Folman var vidne til eller medskyldig i drabene på hundredvis af civile palæstinensere, er et af filmens centrale spørgsmål. Han har nemlig selv fuldstændig fortrængt sine oplevelser fra krigen.

Som sådan er filmen en dokumentar, der tager udgangspunkt i instruktørens forsøg på at rekonstruere og huske, hvad der skete den gang. Dette er et genialt fortælleteknisk greb. Vi følger instruktøren, mens han interviewer en række soldaterkammerater og igennem deres fortællinger rekonstruerer sin egen historie, der langsomt kommer tættere på kernen – massakrerne – efterhånden som Folmans minder dukker op af erindringens dyb.

Den fortælling, der dukker op, er gribende. Waltz With Bashir markerer sig tydeligt som en antikrigsfilm i sin skildring af unge soldater, der gribes af panisk angst eller udlever forvrængede helte-fantasier, når de konfronteres med fjenden. Filmen viser meningsløsheden og den tilfældighed, hvormed nogle dør og nogle overlever. Ingen overlevende er dog upåvirkede af deres oplevelser. Heri ligger også et budskab – man kan ikke fortrænge fortidens synder. De kommer tilbage for at hjemsøge én.

Hovedpersonens fortrængning kan opfattes som en spejling og en implicit kritik af israelernes kollektive fortrængning af massakrene i Sabra og Shatila, eller måske endnu bredere blindheden for skyggesiden af alle de krige, som Israel har ført mod sine naboer og især mod palæstinenserne. Filmen kan derfor heller ikke ses løsrevet fra nutidens fortsatte meningsløse og fastlåste situation, der stadig kræver sine ofre.

At lave en dokumentarfilm som animation kan virke som et paradoks, men den lettere stiliserede realistiske animationsstil fungerer fremragende. Den tillader filmen at hoppe mellem nutid, fortid og surrealistiske drømmesekvenser med en sikker æstetisk sensibilitet. Waltz With Bashir har en dyster og rugende stemning, som det eminente soundtrack af den tyske neo-klassiske komponist Max Richter skal have en stor del af æren for.

Walts With Bashir er har vundet et utal af filmpriser og er et absolut must-see. Kendskab til den historiske baggrund er en fordel, men ikke en nødvendighed, da filmens tema er universelt menneskeligt, og lige så godt kunne have foregået under enhver krig, hvor soldater traumatiseres af volden og meningsløsheden.

Filmen kan fås på DVD.

Links: Trailer (Youtube) IMDB Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes

Seem to be mired in good films these days. Bad ones too but I don’t bother writing about those quite as much.

Waltz with Bashir (2008)

Don’t know why it took me this long to get to this. Is there any doubt left that animation has earned its seat at the serious film table? Put this together with the Miyasaki films, and the devastating Grave of the Fireflies, or the stylistic whirlwind of Casshern (discussed here) and you realize this genre goes way beyond any simple toy stories. This is not only brilliant animation but it is one of the finest war, or more properly, anti-war films out there.

Based on a true story, it involves an Israeli soldier years after his service trying to piece together an elusive past. He visits his comrades and together with their partial memories forges his way to a terrible event. Though the ending to this film might not have been absolutely necessary, the few minutes of documentary evidence of the basis of this film surely ranks among those photos of the Mai Lai massacre or those of the concentration camp mass graves.

Yacoubian Building (2006)

Quite a change of pace here from an Israeli animation to an Egyptian urban narrative. As frustrating and rich as modern Cairo, this film is built on the interwoven lives of the tenants of the venerable Yacoubian apartment building. Its underlying though openly stated theme is the degeneration of Egypt, of the attempts to live honourably amongst widespread corruption, and of the few moments of transcendence despite the knee deep moral squallor.

The Idiots (1998)

This is the most challenging film of the three. The incorrigible Lars Von Trier (of the Kingdom, and much much more) made this film quite a few years ago under the Dogme rules (essentially taking filming down to the basics). Basically, we have a group of people who go out in public and pretend to be mentally challenged. They take turns on who plays the caregiver.

This skates so close, and openly deals with the issue as well, to being tasteless. There are scenes in this film that are not violent or scary but nonetheless difficult to watch. The last ten minutes of the film is almost unbearable. But that is typical Lars as well.

He is a curious fellow as witness his very geeky appearances at the end of each episode of The Kingdom, and here he takes his idiots from the film as backup singers for his rendition of You’re A Lady. Funny odd and strange, shades of Fatboy Slim’s Praise You.

Cartoons are for kids and foreign subtitled documentaries are boring, right? Wrong. Waltz With Bashir [MA 15+] –- an Israeli animated and subtitled documentary –- is so startlingly original and moving, it’s recommended any such prejudices are set aside.

Waltz With Bashir explores director Ari Folman’s experiences as a young Israeli soldier during the first Lebanon war in the early 1980s. Folman’s long repressed memories of horrific atrocities that occurred in Beirut begin to resurface after an old friend reveals vivid nightmares about his own tour of duty. Folman decides to interview ex-war comrades and news reporters who also witnessed the carnage and begins to understand why he can’t remember much about this troubled time in his past.

It’s easy to see why this was the first animated film to be nominated for a Best Foreign Language Film Oscar with its heady mix of astounding visuals, rocking soundtrack and meaty subject matter. Despite losing to a Japanese production, Departures, at this year’s Academy Awards, it’s still a winner. Waltz With Bashir is an unsettling, often bizarre, but ultimately stunning movie. War is hell but Folman’s dazzling and deeply personal documentary also highlights the banality and disorganised chaos of battle in an original, provocative manner. Its emotionally shattering conclusion leaves a lasting impact on viewers long after the final credits have rolled.

The 90-minute running time is perfect and the viewer’s attention never wanders. It’s refreshing to watch such a movie and be left wanting more. Unlike most shambolic military campaigns, including the one depicted here, Folman has gone in and achieved his objective magnificently. Mission accomplished.

[This review by NEIL WALKER was first published in May 2009's edition of the Hastings News]

“Kutyák rohannak át a városon.  Nyál csorog a pofájukból, szemeik villognak. A járókelők ijedten rebbennek szét előlük. 26 kutya. Egyvalakit akarnak. Engem.”
A borostás szemüveges alak szünetet tart, lehajtja a felest, majd kétségbeesetten bámul asztaltársára. “Ismerem ezt a 26 kutyát. Én lőttem le őket 20 évvel ezelőtt a libanoni háborúban.”

Őt ez a 26 kutya kísérti. A másik meglepődve veszi észre, hogy nincsenek emlékei, pedig ott volt. Miért nincsenek?- teszi fel magának a kérdést. Nyomozni kezd. Felkeresi egykori bajtársait, akik emlékezhetnek rá.

Itt, Európa a közepén, keveset tudunk az elmúlt 30 év közelkeleti eseményeiről. Nehéz is megérteni az ott történteket.
A film apránként adagolja az információkat, kezdetben hétköznapi szituációkba csomagolva. Különös képi világot látunk. Barnás árnyalatok, fekete vonalak. Furcsa egy ilyen témát animációként feldolgozni. Mégis működik, hiszen ennek segítségével kicsit  még távolabbról figyelhetjük az eseményeket.

Érdekes, de mégis valahogy hétköznapi szituációk követik egymást. A főhős pszichológus barátjával beszélget az emlékezetkiesésről. Hollandiába utazik és régi bajtársával találkozik. Mellékszálak. Különös életutak rajzolódnak ki a néző előtt, pár mondatban megrajzolva. Ahogy halad a nyomozás, egyre inkább az emlékek játszák a főszerepet. Egyre komorodik a történet. A végén bambulva ülök a képernyő előtt és nem hiszem el, amit láttam. Aztán lassan begépelem a google-be, hogy libanoni háború.

színes feliratos izraeli-német-francia animációs film, 90 perc, 2008
16 éven aluliak számára nem ajánlott

rendező: Ari Folman
forgatókönyvíró: Ari Folman
zeneszerző: Max Richter
producer: Ari Folman, Serge Lalou, Gerhard Meixner, Yael Nahlieli

Kennt ihr das auch, dass ihr einen Film unbedingt im Kino sehen wollt, weil ihr zufällig über einen Trailer gestolpert seid, oder eine gute Kritik gelesen habt – und es dann doch nicht passt? Mir geht das leider recht häufig so, und so war es Ende letzten Jahres auch mit “Waltz with Bashir”, nun endlich(!) hab ich mir mal die DVD vorgenommen.

Ein animierter Dokumentarfilm? Über den Libanonkrieg? Klingt erstmal merkwürdig und unrealisitisch. Tatsächlich ist “Waltz with Bashir”  in dieser Form einzigartig: Die Form des animierten Doku-Filmes wurde für diesen Film erfunden. Alle Ideen und Gedanken von Regisseur und Hauptdarsteller Ari Folman und die realen Interviews mit den Figuren des Filmes wurden von den Animateuren als Vorlage für ihre Zeichnungen genutzt, und schließlich wurden tausende Zeichnungen in einem aufwendigen Prozess zu einem sehenswerten Film geschnitten. (Ein interessantes Interview, auch zum Thema Technik des Filmes, mit Ari Folman hat die Welt online)

Worum geht es? Ich zitiere der Einfachheit halber: “Eines Nachts in einer Bar erzählt ein alter Freund dem Regisseur Ari von einem immer wiederkehrenden Alptraum, in dem er von 26 dämonischen Hunden gejagt wird. Jede Nacht, immer genau 26 Bestien. Die beiden Männer kommen zu dem Schluss, dass ein Zusammenhang zu ihrem Einsatz im ersten Libanon Krieg bestehen muss. Ari ist überrascht, denn er hat jegliche Erinnerung an diese Zeit verloren. Verstört macht er sich auf, Freunde und Kameraden von damals zu besuchen und zu befragen. Er muss die Wahrheit über jene Zeit und über sich selbst herausfinden. Je tiefer Ari in seine Vergangenheit eindringt, desto klarer werden seine Gedanken und die verdrängten Erlebnisse erscheinen in surrealen Bildern…”

Ari Folman war im ersten Libanon-Krieg als 19-Jähriger im Einsatz, und mit “Waltz with Bashir” geht Folman auf eine persönliche Entdeckungsreise in seine eigenen Erinnerungen, in traumatische Vergangenheitsbewältigung, in düstere Bilder aus dem kriegerischen Libanon. Diese ganz persönliche, subjektive Sicht auf die Dinge ist eine große Stärke des Filmes: So hat man als Zuschauer ein völlig anderes Bild als bei einem “herkömmlichen” Kriegsdrama. Dadurch, dass die Ereignisse und entsprechend die Interviews real sind, macht einen der Film mehr und mehr beklommen – und das trotz (oder gerade wegen?!) der relativ einfach gehaltenen Animationen. Diese packenden Bilder sind jederzeit intensiv und bewegend – gerade in den völlig surrealen Momenten. Besonders am Ende, wenn es mehr und mehr auf das Massaker von Sabra und Schatila hinläuft, und schließlich die animierten Bilder sich in den echten Aufnahmen des Massakers auflösen, ist der Film einfach nur packend – und zeigt eine ganz andere, eine völlig neue Sicht eines Kriegsfilmes. Erwähnenswert ist im Übrigen noch die Musik vom deutschen Komponisten Max Richter, ihm gelingt hier ein fulminanter Soundtrack, der immer passt und geradezu unglaublich textlich die Szenen analysiert. Wie oft erlebt man langweilige Dokumentationen? Hier wird deutlich, dass es auch anders geht: Ari Folman gelingt ein bewunderswertes Kinoereignis, welches jeder Cineast mal gesehen haben sollte!

Homepage zum Film mit allen Infos zur Produktion.

Yoni Goodman, director of animation for the Academy Award-nominated film Waltz with Bashir, collaborated with Open Society Institute grantee Gisha to create a powerful animated film about how the Gaza Strip’s 1.5 million residents experience living in a “closed zone.” (From the Open Society Institute Middle East & North Africa Initiative).

During the ruthless siege of Gaza in what was dubbed , the Kadima and Labor failed campaign at the 2009 Israeli elections, Palestinians were virtually helpless in escaping the massive war crimes and crimes against humanity.  It is sad how the Israeli military machine has to constantly employ a PR campaign with each military operation.

Palestinians were given ‘leaflets‘ letting them know that they should leave the area – as well as phone calls and radio messages (perhaps whenever they decided to turn on the electricity). Yet most Palestinians in Gaza – if they had the means or hope to leave their homes – had nowhere to go but move within the Gaza Stip and gamble. The Gaza Strip was hit everywhere.

BBC also created a map and timeline of the siege itself (see also maps and events of week one and week two).

The Gaza Strip is still an open-air prison.

For the the brief background of Closed Zone, and behind the scenes footage please see the OSI MENA page: http://www.soros.org/initiatives/mena/multimedia/closed_20090403.

En este último tiempo se estrenaron dos películas de animación con un fuerte contenido político que recibieron una gran acogida por parte de la crítica a nivel internacional. Se trata de la francesa Persepolis, del 2007, y de la israelí Vals Con Bashir, del 2008.

Persepolis es la autobiografía de la directora y guionista de la película, la iraní Marjane Satrapi, quien ya había dado a conocer su historia cuando la publicó en formato de novela gráfica (libros de historietas) entre los años 2000 y 2003.

La película comienza en la niñez de Marjane, a finales de la década del ‘70. Ella vive en el seno de familia occidentalizada que se opone al régimen del Sah (Monarca de Irán), que ejerce el poder con el respaldo del gobierno de Estados Unidos desde los tiempos de la Segunda Guerra Mundial. Este régimen, que siempre favoreció a las clases altas a través de sus medidas económicas, nunca dejó de perseguir y asesinar a los opositores de izquierda.

En 1979 se produjo la denominada Revolución Iraní que destituyó al Sah e instauró en su lugar un gobierno fundamentalista islámico, que continuó y profundizó la persecución y ejecución de opositores. En este delicado panorama político, en 1980, y con el apoyo logístico de Occidente, Saddam Hussein invadió Irán con el propósito de adueñarse de una porción de territorio próximo a la frontera con Irak. La guerra se extendió hasta 1988 y se estima que en ella murieron cerca de un millón de personas.

Después de su infancia, el film sigue a Marjane durante su adolescencia y los primeros años de su vida adulta.

Curiosamente, Vals Con Bashir también es un relato autobiográfico de su director, Ari Folman, y narra su experiencia como soldado del ejército israelí durante la ocupación de Beirut en la primera guerra del Líbano en 1982.

El propósito de Israel era expulsar del Líbano a la OLP (Organización Para la Liberación de Palestina), que brindaba su ayuda a las facciones musulmanas en la guerra civil libanesa. El 16 de septiembre de 1982, los milicianos cristianos, sin que Israel hiciera nada para evitarlo, perpetraron las masacres de Sabra y Chatila, dos campos de refugiados palestinos donde murieron asesinados entre 350 y 3500 personas, según diferentes versiones.

La película, que se puede considerar como el primer documental animado de la historia del cine, muestra al director Ari, que no recuerda nada de su experiencia en la guerra, entrevistándose con personas que estuvieron junto a él en aquel momento.

La Revolución Iraní, la guerra Irán-Irak, la primera guerra del Líbano y las masacres de Sabra y Chatila, son sucesos históricos que se ven representados en estas películas, que más allá de su importante valor histórico, no dejan de ser excelentes historias que permiten reflexionar acerca de diversos temas como la adolescencia, el matrimonio, la familia (Persepolis), y también la memoria, la culpa y el miedo (Vals Con Bashir).

http://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/lists/2009/06/the-25-must-see-foreign-films-since-2000.html

I’ve seen all of this except Gomorrah, Best of Youth and Yesterday. I can’t argue with the order too much. They’re obviously excluding British films from foreign films, a common oversight. But, I would find a space for Waltz With Bashir, Edge of Heaven, Head On, Lilya 4-Ever and maybe Color of Paradise. I’d put 4 months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days at the top.

Here’s my Best of Lists by year: http://www.netflix.com/ReviewsAndLists?prid=150830343&myprofile=y&lnkctr=fsb2mrl

AFP

Par Rébecca FRASQUET

VENISE — La Mostra accueillait mardi “The white space” de l’Italienne Francesca Comencini sur un Lido mis en effervescence par la venue de l’acteur George Clooney, tandis qu’un film israélien sur la guerre du Liban, “Lebanon”, s’imposait comme le premier grand coup de coeur du festival.

Depuis le début du Festival de cinéma de Venise (2-12 septembre) si deux films politiques, signés par les Américains Michael Moore et Oliver Stone ont provoqué de vifs débats, aucun long métrage en compétition n’a semblé faire l’unanimité, hormis “Lebanon”.

Nourri des douloureux souvenirs de son réalisateur, Samuel Maoz, 47 ans, originaire de Tel Aviv, le film fait vivre intensément le début de la première guerre du Liban en 1982, à travers la meurtrière avancée d’un tank israélien.

A l’instar de “Valse avec Bachir” le superbe film d’animation présenté au Festival de Cannes 2008 par Ari Folman, auquel nombre de critiques comparaient “Lebanon” mardi, il approche la guerre avec une radicale nouveauté.

Enfermés dans un tank, quatre jeunes soldats israéliens ne voient du Liban que les massacres qu’ils y perpètrent : âne éventré agonisant, femme au bord de la démence après la mort de son enfant, vieillard au regard figé par la haine, assis dans la rue face à son ami foudroyé en pleine partie d’échecs…

L’horreur de ces scènes, ajoutées au confinement et à la cruelle absurdité des ordres reçus, fait monter la tension entre les hommes.

L’image, ramenée à celle du viseur du tank, transforme le réel tantôt en cibles potentielles, tantôt en source de menaces, instillant une grande tension dans le film, tout comme la bande-son, particulièrement soignée.

“Dénuée de tout héroïsme, la vie au combat est montrée comme elle ne l’avait jamais été”, estime le quotidien italien La Repubblica.

Sur le Lido, les paparazzi ont mitraillé l’Américain George Clooney en smoking noir et la jeune animatrice de TV Elisabetta Canalis désignée comme sa “fiancée italienne” par la presse, en robe verte très décolletée.

Mouvementée, la projection de gala de “The man who stares at goats” où joue Clooney, a été interrompue à deux reprises pour des problèmes techniques.

L’acteur s’est exclamé “Merveilleux!” et a chanté “O sole mio” pour distraire la salle lors de la première panne, avant de servir du vin blanc pétillant à toute une rangée d’invités, lors de la seconde.

Deuxième film italien entré en compétition – après celui de Giuseppe Tornatore mais avant ceux de Michele Placido et Giuseppe Capotondi – “The white space” est tiré du roman de Valeria Parrella “Lo spazio blanco” et tourné à Naples.

Réalisé par la fille du cinéaste Luigi Comencini, Francesca, née en 1961 – tandis que la cadette, Paola, signe les décors – c’est le portrait d’une femme indépendante proche de la quarantaine, qui se retrouve enceinte après un flirt.

Six mois plus tard Maria accouche d’un bébé prématuré, aussitôt placé en couveuse. Comme celle de sa fille qui peut s’arrêter à tout instant, la vie de Maria est alors en suspens pour 50 jours d’un “Espace blanc” émotionnel, soit le délai laissé au bébé avant de pouvoir respirer sans assistance artificielle.

Porté par Marguerita Buy dont le jeu tout en nuances sauve le film du mélodrame larmoyant, “The white space” comporte de beaux moments, grâce à des dialogues bien écrits et à la belle photographie de Luca Bigazzi.

Mais un récit artificiellement morcelé et l’envahissante bande originale, qui assène des airs à la mode aux paroles explicites, tuent un peu l’émotion.

Francesca Comencini a notamment signé “Le parole di mio padre”, qui a reçu le Prix Un Certain Regard à Cannes en 2001.

 

Cena de Valsa com Bashir.

 

# Valsa com Bashir

Trailer (UK):

Jennifer Garner e elenco dançam “Thriller”:

# Em Qualquer Outro Lugar

Trailer:

# Uma Noite de Amor e Música

TOP 5

1º Valsa com Bashir
2º Orquestra dos Meninos
3º Uma Noite de Amor e Música
4º De Repente 30
5º Em Qualquer Outro Lugar

Mas devo dizer que nenhum destes filmes é realmente muito bom, ou imperdível.