SummaryOne night at a bar, an old friend tells director Ari about a recurring nightmare in which he is chased by 26 vicious dogs. Every night, the same number of beasts. The two men conclude that there’s a connection to their Israeli Army mission in the first Lebanon War of the early eighties. Ari is surprised that he can’t remember a thing anymore abou... Read More
Directed By:Ari Folman
Written By:Ari Folman
Waltz with Bashir
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
91
User score
Universal Acclaim
8.2
My Score
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Metascore
Universal Acclaim
97% Positive
32 Reviews
32 Reviews
3% Mixed
1 Review
1 Review
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
100
It's encouraging to see a nation so aware of its public image and defensive about its military decisions examine a dark day in its history.
100
It is personal filmmaking of the highest order, recognized with an Academy Award nomination for best foreign film.
User score
Universal Acclaim
88% Positive
104 Ratings
104 Ratings
8% Mixed
9 Ratings
9 Ratings
4% Negative
5 Ratings
5 Ratings
Apr 23, 2013
10
Ending up watching this movie is so much like waking up from a bad dream, when everything beside us, all of a sudden becomes harsh reality from long-forgotten vivid images. Ari Folman takes us to a frightening post-war world where everyone seems to be living in a trance, hiding form their own memory from days past. A war documentary like this, is one of its kind, and the never-seen-before animation technique adds something really different in this movie. It lets you stuck in your sofa, thanking god because your teenage was never like this. And you didn't have to see another haunted ocean. Watch. And think. And imagine. Because its real. And not so real.
Mar 10, 2012
10
Wow. I can't rate this film highly enough. First of all we have a great screenplay, based on the first hand accounts / recollections of the director and some of his fellow soldiers in the Israeli conflict with Lebanon in 1982. Perhaps for budgetary reasons animation is used instead of live action to tell this tale. The animation / rotoscoping is nonetheless stunning (for the most part), and adds rather than detracts from the narrative. A film about memory, war, guilt, friendship and more. A powerfully emotional ending. A great film, an important film, watch it.
100
Provocative, hallucinatory, incendiary, this devastating animated documentary is unlike any Israeli film you've seen. More than that, in its seamless mixing of the real and the surreal, the personal and the political, animation and live action, it's unlike any film you've seen, period.
90
The images of war that Folman and his chief illustrator, David Polonsky, conjure up have a feverish, infernal beauty. Dreams and reality jumble together.
88
Haunting is the best word for Waltz With Bashir, a striking animated documentary - not an oxy moron, despite how it sounds - from Israel.
80
This animated documentary, from former Israeli soldier Ari Folman, blends both tactics to devastating effect. Perhaps only animation could give us the distance that makes his subject bearable: the personal cost of his own participation in the 1982 Lebanon War.
60
The chosen style of animation leads to a distracting choppiness that renders the movements, gestures and facial expressions of the interviewees unconvincing. The other problem is that, memory naturally being something that returns in fits and starts, the film is rarely able to sustain any consistent narrative thrust.
Jan 6, 2012
10
The best animated film of the decade. The best foreign film of the decade. the best documentary of the decade. One of the very best films of the decade. A deeply moving, thought provoking and artistically designed masterpiece. Anyone who said wall-e or the dark knight was the best film of 2008 did not see this film or synecdoche,new york(which was the best film of that year and the decade)
Feb 2, 2011
10
My favorite animated movie hands down. Beautifully done, haunting, and goes to depths of horror that you wouldn't think is real, but unfortunately it did happen. If it was not so grotesque this should be shown in all classes in high school or college and teach people about religious, ethnic, and racial tolerance.
Sep 28, 2025
9
This is a very innovative and impressive anti-war epic, though condensed. It starts slowly and builds relentlessly. The cartoons paradoxically allow more realism than you could get with CGI and live actors. Highly recommended for adult audiences. Some sex scenes which might disturb younger viewers, and enough violence to disturb almost anybody else.
May 13, 2015
9
Well that was dark movie, but it was great. The story is about the atrocities of war, they're not sure if their dreams are real, imaginary, or just the gateway to a flood of memories they'd rather not have to face. Waltz with Bashir is the best animated movie for adults and film lovers out there. The movie is dark, shocking and it was good choice to make it animated, why you ask well with animation you can animate whatever you and I'm talking about you can make it gritty, happy, depressing or realistic, and the animation in this movie fitted the tone perfectly. I'm not going to talk any more of Waltz with Bashir and I know I should tell you all about the movie but I think this one is special and to the people who haven't seen yet and just came across this review, the only thing I have to say to you is go watch it knowing nothing and see what kind of experience you get, if you hate that's fine it's your opinion but if you love it good for you.
Jan 28, 2012
6
Il Ãtait intÃressant de se plonger dans l'intervention israÃlienne au Liban en 1982. Il Ãtait intÃressant de la part du rÃalisateur de nous livrer une oeuvre sur ce sujet sous la forme d'un documentaire. Mais je me demande pourquoi avoir rÃalisà ce dernier en animation? Il faut le reconnaÃtre, cela apporte beaucoup de style à l'ambiance (trop...) hypnotique du film. Le problème reste cependant les personnages, bien trop inexpressifs pour que l'on accorde la moindre crÃdibilità à leurs paroles. Heureusement, les doubleurs français sont là pour apporter une immense part d'humanità aux protagonistes et intervenants (en même temps, nous avons les voix de Patrick Floersheim, Michel Papineschi, Jacques Frantz...). Reste que Valse avec Bachir soit une oeuvre tout de même puissante, sur la guerre et notamment la culpabilitÃ.
Production Company:
- Bridgit Folman Film Gang
- Les Films d'Ici
- Razor Film Produktion GmbH
- ARTE
- ITVS International
- Noga Communication - Channel 8
- New Israeli Foundation for Cinema and Television
- Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg
- Israel Film Fund
- HOT
- YLE Teema
- Télévision Suisse-Romande (TSR)
- Radio Télévision Belge Francophone (RTBF)
- Special Broadcasting Service (SBS)
Release Date:Dec 25, 2008
Duration:1 h 30 m
Rating:R
Tagline:We may forget the past, but the past won't forget us. [Theatrical trailer.]
Website:
Awards
Golden Globes, USA
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
Academy Awards, USA
• 1 Nomination
Awards of the Israeli Film Academy
• 6 Wins & 7 Nominations
