Good morning, Lebanon

Waltz with Bashir

The Pitch:

It is the first Israeli animated feature- more precisely, a documentary- to be nominated for either an Academy Award or a Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

High Points:

I really got interested in knowing a little more about the Lebanon Civil War which was spurred in part by inter-religious conflicts between Lebanese Christians and the Palestinian refugees who had entered the country over the course of several decades.

Low Points:

I always expect something easy from an animated picture. "Waltz with Bashir" made me feel confused - it is not a fiction film, but I did not get it as a documentary, either.

To be honest, I was not previously familiar with the First Lebanon War, which is depicted in it, and after seeing the film I wasn’t much more familiar. It is not about the war itself- and as I expected. It’s about the war as remembered by the writer/director Ari Folman. It is a beautiful picture, but it did not touch me as I thought it would.

It is a sort of movie that I did not like it and I felt bad because of all the critics loved it.