A few weeks ago Jason and I were watching one of our netflix movies and a previews came on for this animated adult film called Waltz With Bashir. Neither of us had heard of it, but the story looked intriguing. A couple of days later, the graphic novel arrived in one of my TAYSHAS shipments...and today I got around to reading it.
It is an incredible story and one that I don't think our students today are acquainted with. The main character can't recall his part in the massacre in Beirut. He hardly even remembers the war at all, except a friend comes to him for help, explaining the hardships that he's going through. When Ari hears that, he gets pulled into his own hellish nightmare of remembrances, but some of the pages are blank. Employing the help of friends and specialists, he is able to piece together what happened and the impact his past had on what he was taking part in. The story is solid and worth being told for sure.
More than the words, however, Waltz With Bashir gives us pictures to drive it all home. Done in graphic novel format, the weaving of emotion and fact is masterfully done. Each picture is framed up to contain the most amount of detail possible, aiding the story incredibly...and the switch from drawn art to photographic art is stunningly done.
Due to some nudity and drug use, this graphic novel will probably be better suited to the public library, or liberal school library collections. It is so well done, however, I hope that it will be on shelves somewhere!
Click here to watch the trailer for the movie, which mirrors the book!
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