Waltz with Bashir

Waltz with Bashir (Hebrew: ואלס עם באשיר‎ - Vals Im Bashir) is a 2008 Israeli animated documentary film written and directed by Ari Folman. It depicts Folman in search of his lost memories from the 1982 Lebanon War and won numerous awards, including being nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. -


 * Action-Hogging Opening: The film's opening, which follows a pack of dogs tearing through a city, is its most fast-paced and visually dynamic sequence.
 * Angry Guard Dog: A soldier must shoot twenty-six dogs because their barking would alert the wanted Palestinians, and the dead dogs begin haunting him some 20 years later.
 * Apathetic Citizens: At one scene showing a battle between the Israelis and the militants, Lebanese civilians were watching the whole battle from their balconies as if they were just watching a drive-by movie, without caring if they might get shot.
 * A-Team Firing: The IDF soldiers that invade Lebanon fire at everything. Not everything that moves. Everything.
 * The Atoner: Folman's story of the search for his lost memories, as well as the very reason he lost them in the first place, is of guilt over whatever happened on the night of the massacre of Sabra and Shatila.
 * Badass Israeli: Deconstructed/subverted. Pretty much all of the soldiers shown are just scared kids who would rather be back home. Frenkel does have his moments, though.
 * Bad Dreams: The film starts with Boaz, Ari Folman's long time friend, recounting a recurring dream in which he is menaced by the dogs he shot during the war.
 * Black Comedy: Occasionally. The red car montage sticks out as one example.
 * Child Soldiers: Frenkel tells the director how he and his troop were attacked by a child with an RPG in an orchard and had to shoot him.
 * Church Militant: The Phalangists.
 * Flashbacks
 * Freud Was Right: Galil shrinkage.
 * Hell Hound: The twenty-six dogs in the start.
 * Intrepid Reporter: Ron Ben-Yishai
 * Israelis With Infrared Missiles: All the main characters.
 * Medium Blending: The final scene is real footage of the aftermath.
 * Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: The director presents his ex-girlfriend this way. She dumped him on the same week that he shipped out, and he has visions and dreams of her during his experience at war. The director's wife objected to how pretty she looks in the film.
 * Shell-Shocked Veteran: The Israeli soldiers.
 * Shout-Out: Soldier surfing under fire.
 * Soundtrack Dissonance: In a few scenes, the film uses classical music and rocking 80's singles over scenes of war.
 * Survivors Guilt: Ronny Dayag
 * Trapped Behind Enemy Lines: Ronny Dayag
 * Trauma-Induced Amnesia: The driving force of the film is the main character's search for his memories of the war.
 * Unflinching Walk: Ron Ben-Yishai
 * What Do You Mean It Wasn't Made on Drugs?
 * War Is Hell: The director stated that he intended to show that war is awful, and to not give the audience any heroic characters to emulate.
 * Worf Effect: On the IDF, constantly.