The Movie: Ari Folman - a former soldier in the Israel Defense Forces who took part in the invasion of Lebanon in 1982 - is struggling to recall his memories of the war. Taking the advice of a childhood friend he sets out to meet up with former soldiers who were there at the time in order to help piece together the events, and comes to realise that his amnesia stems from deep feelings of guilt for the massacre of hundreds of civilians in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camp. What Makes It Original: Animation might seem like an inappropriate medium for a subject as serious as war crimes and the culpability of those who sign up to "fight for their country", but Folman's decision to use it to express the themes in Waltz with Bashir renders the exploration of memory amidst the fog of war in suitably abstract terms. It also makes the closing moments - as the animation dissolves into raw live-action footage of the aftermath of the horrendous massacre which tormented Folman's psyche for so many years - all the more shocking.
