I went to see this movie on the weekend, and it is still on my mind, and probably will be for some time.
To those unfamiliar with it, it is about an Israeli veteran trying to unblock his memory of his involvement with the 1982 invasion of Lebanon. This urge is brought on by an old war buddy sharing the torment of a peculiar dream that has recently kept recurring.
He tries to recover his memory by tracking down fellow soldiers he knew from that time, and try to piece together what happened to him from their stories. In the process he begins to have his own unnerving dreams, and slowly begins a journey towards discovering if he really had any involvement with the Sabra and Shatila massacres
The movie is supposed to be a documentary, but it seems too bizarre to be simply labelled that. It is told with a very unique style: animation with a voice over of actual particpants describing their personal stories as best they can recall, in a very visceral way.
And there in is the intriguing part to me, the fragmented way the mind gives up what it has buried. As the movie points out, because what they are trying describe was so traumatic to them, their recollection is going to be imperfect, it's for this reason I think the medium of animation works.
It is a disturbing movie, even if the style is reminscent of the early 80's movie Heavy Metal the subject matter is far more serious. It is violent, pornographic, and believable despite what some might see as only caricature of real events.
The animation is close, but certainly it is not going to be exact, just like the memories of these soldiers recounting the events. Besides that they're just as often recounting their dreams, or nightmares, and to that end this method of explaining visually what they feel happened probably gave the maker of this film more freedom to illustrate the point.
Perhaps because some of the events these soldiers are retelling are so traumatic, the medium is also more suitable since it does take the edge off, somewhat.
Even so, to those who may feel desensitised to human violence against human in film, for whatever reason, then much like Coppola's Apocalypse Now, if he don't get you with people suffering, then he'll try get to you with animals suffering.
Although why the final brutal and disgusting scene is occurring depends on your point of view, the result of it is not ambiguous nor etheral like some of the stories the soldiers have told to get there, the result is very much in your face.
I don't think the intent was tie it all up nice and neat at the end, that's just the point, memories won't allow that, but there is film that remains, like this one, that is meant to shock people into remembering the real horror and consequences of war.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhjCjrYRhH8
To those unfamiliar with it, it is about an Israeli veteran trying to unblock his memory of his involvement with the 1982 invasion of Lebanon. This urge is brought on by an old war buddy sharing the torment of a peculiar dream that has recently kept recurring.
He tries to recover his memory by tracking down fellow soldiers he knew from that time, and try to piece together what happened to him from their stories. In the process he begins to have his own unnerving dreams, and slowly begins a journey towards discovering if he really had any involvement with the Sabra and Shatila massacres
The movie is supposed to be a documentary, but it seems too bizarre to be simply labelled that. It is told with a very unique style: animation with a voice over of actual particpants describing their personal stories as best they can recall, in a very visceral way.
And there in is the intriguing part to me, the fragmented way the mind gives up what it has buried. As the movie points out, because what they are trying describe was so traumatic to them, their recollection is going to be imperfect, it's for this reason I think the medium of animation works.
It is a disturbing movie, even if the style is reminscent of the early 80's movie Heavy Metal the subject matter is far more serious. It is violent, pornographic, and believable despite what some might see as only caricature of real events.
The animation is close, but certainly it is not going to be exact, just like the memories of these soldiers recounting the events. Besides that they're just as often recounting their dreams, or nightmares, and to that end this method of explaining visually what they feel happened probably gave the maker of this film more freedom to illustrate the point.
Perhaps because some of the events these soldiers are retelling are so traumatic, the medium is also more suitable since it does take the edge off, somewhat.
Even so, to those who may feel desensitised to human violence against human in film, for whatever reason, then much like Coppola's Apocalypse Now, if he don't get you with people suffering, then he'll try get to you with animals suffering.
Although why the final brutal and disgusting scene is occurring depends on your point of view, the result of it is not ambiguous nor etheral like some of the stories the soldiers have told to get there, the result is very much in your face.
I don't think the intent was tie it all up nice and neat at the end, that's just the point, memories won't allow that, but there is film that remains, like this one, that is meant to shock people into remembering the real horror and consequences of war.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhjCjrYRhH8
