The movie "Waltz with Bashir" opens with two middle-aged men talking in a bar. The man wearing glasses talks about the nightmares he has been having since two and a half years ago. In his dreams, he has been facing 26 barking people. The threat of slaughter by evil dogs, and this caused the male protagonist to pursue a journey of memory, about the massacre in Beirut refugee camp in 1982.
This film is the first documentary in the form of animation. It is developed from the perspective of the male lead, director Ali Forman, and consists of recollections of interviews by many people.
The title "Waltz with Bashir" refers to a scene in which soldiers are shooting frantically under Bashir's giant frame, as if they are waltzing.
Bashir, namely Bachir Gemayel (1947-1982) was a Lebanese politician who was the leader of the right-wing Christian Lebanese Phalange and the Lebanese Forces in the early days of the Lebanese Civil War. The highest commander of the militia.
On August 23, 1982, under the support and pressure of Israel and the United States, Bashir Gemayel was elected President of Lebanon by the Parliament. At this time, Lebanon was mired in a civil war and was led by Israel and Syria. Occupied by the Multinational Force in Lebanon.
However, less than a month later, Gemayel was assassinated in a bomb attack at the headquarters of the Phalanx in Beirut.
The assassination shocked the world and directly led to the Israeli Defense Forces’ invasion of Beirut and the retaliatory Beirut refugee camp massacre initiated by the Phalange.
——Source: Wikipedia
Film background introduction
On September 15, 1982, Israeli troops entered Beirut West District on the grounds of the murder of Lebanese President Bashir Gemayel.
The film is about the massacre in Beirut refugee camps, also known as the Sabra and Shatila massacre, a massacre that took place from September 16 to September 18, 1982. The location of the incident It is the Sabra neighborhood of Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, and the neighboring Shatila refugee camp.
The Christian militia under the Lebanese Phalang Party, which supports Israel, with the assistance of the Israel Defense Forces, massacred their enemies, including Palestinians and Shia Muslims in Lebanon, with the death toll between 762 and 3,500.
It was the time of the Lebanese Civil War and the Fifth Middle East War. ——Source: Wikipedia
Selective amnesia
The male protagonist and director Ali Forman witnessed all this as an Israeli soldier who invaded Lebanon at the age of 19, and he apparently selectively forgot this memory.
The doctors in the film described the events they experienced as "dissociative events", which were used as a self-defense mechanism for patients against trauma, and there was a period of memory gaps to help patients escape the trauma they suffered.
Dissociative amnesia or Dissociative amnesia, also known as psychogenic amnesia, is a mental illness.
Patients will forget important information in their personal memory, which is usually not caused by physiological factors (such as brain injury or memory deterioration), but caused by a major blow that has caused great grief in the heart. ——Source: Wikipedia
It can be said that he, as the perpetrator, is experiencing such psychological trauma, so what about the victims? In the scene at the end of the film, from an animation to a live action, the cruelty of the war becomes more and more real.
The Fifth Middle East War
The massacre in Beirut refugee camp coincides with the fifth Middle East war.
On June 6, 1982, Israel launched a large-scale offensive against the Palestine Liberation Organization guerrillas and the Syrian garrison in Lebanon under the pretext of its ambassador to the United Kingdom. Half of the country.
The cause of the Lebanon-Israel war is still the continuation of the dispute over the Palestinian issue. The main purpose of Israel's invasion of Lebanon was to destroy the Palestine Liberation Organization, to seek to establish a pro-Israeli zheng in Lebanon and to squeeze out the Syrian garrison in Lebanon.
In order to build a country of their own, the Palestinians established the Palestine Liberation Organization in May 1964 and launched a war with Israel.
The bases of the PLO guerrillas are located in surrounding Arab countries, mainly in countries such as Syria and Lebanon.
——Source: Xinhuanet
In the name of god
During the French Revolution, Mrs. Roland was sent to the guillotine and left a well-known saying: "Freedom, how many sins are done in your name!"
All wars or atrocities can be given good titles, and "freedom" is but one of them.
I remember the 2013 British drama "The White Queen" that I watched before. It was about the struggle for the throne during the War of the Roses (these families were all relatives), and they all regarded themselves as justice in the name of God. The teacher, can't wait to get rid of the other party quickly.
Before going to the battlefield, all parties were praying to God that they could kill all the enemy troops. What kind of God would answer such a prayer?
When the young Israeli soldiers set foot on the land of Lebanon, what kind of mentality did they have at the time? Are you holding noble pursuits and noble goals, and unswervingly thinking that you are doing what is right? Or just blind obedience without thinking?
The latter is regarded as a "banal evil", and the person concerned is always unaware of his crime. This was discussed in my previous film review of the film "Persian Lesson" ( " I will call you by our name" ).
Regardless of their mentality at the time, these Israeli soldiers are now paying the price. This is not whitewashing, but expressing a true state.
In the search and memory, the director reconstructed the memory of an ordinary soldier of the massacre. They are victors and they are also victims. In the face of war, there is no winner.
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