Animated horror of 1982 Lebanon war

"Waltz with Bashir", an animated movie about Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon has opened in New York and is due to debut in Boston on Friday, January 16.

Written and directed by Ari Folman, a soldier in the Israeli army during the invasion, the film focuses on the memories of Israeli soldiers who were in Beirut when Christian militiamen massacred 3,000 Palestinian civilians. Folman has lost his memories of the war and seeks out other veterans to interview in order to piece together their collective story and contemplate their ethical culpability in the massacre.

Writing in the New York Times, A.O. Scott calls the film "astonishing" and "exemplary" and suggests it is to film animation what Art Spiegelman's "Maus" was to graphic novels -- the expansion of a popular genre into a "profound and original vehicle for the contemplation" of horror.

The Globe's reviewer, Saul Austerlitz, places the movie in the context of Israel's other films that grapple with its military history. "Bashir", he writes, " deliberately turns away from top-down depictions of heroic Zionist generals single-handedly winning battles...The film is a waltz, not only with former Lebanese prime minister Bashir Gemayel, whose assassination prompted the massacres at Sabra and Shatila, but with memory."

The film's website has extensive clips that suggest the harrowing narrative of the film. The Times review has a video clip of Folman explaining how he achieved the animation effects he wanted.

Update 1/5 The National Society of Film Critics 2009 Awards surprised the movie industry and picked "Waltz With Bashir" as the year's best film.

(1/3 23:59 Correction to review quote: Bashir Gemayel was president-elect of Lebanon at the time of his assassination, not prime minister.)