While animation is most commonly used to explore fantastical realms, Ari Folman utilised Adobe Flash and other modern animation techniques to explore the nature of memory and trauma in the context of the 1982 Lebanon War. Folman draws directly on his own experiences in the war and jumps between the event itself and his attempts years later to piece together what happened through interviews with his former comrades in the Israeli Defense Forces. This results less in a straight forward narrative and focuses instead on how memories are constructed and distorted by traumatic events. Waltz With Bashir is one of the most powerful and mature movies ever to use animation - and as if to undercut the way in which the medium has been used to tell an entirely subjective perspective of the events, Folman shifts to live action for the finale with chilling footage of the aftermath of the Sabra and Shatila massacre.
