Airport to Nowhere, Waltz with Bashir, Part 2

A pack of ravenous dogs, a nightmare, a visit from a war-haunted friend, this was how film director Ari Folman's period as an Israeli "grunt" in the 1982 invasion of Lebanon first returned to him. But when he began to search for his own memories of that war, what he found instead was a puzzling, disturbing blank. Tentatively setting off in pursuit of those missing memories, horrors buried for almost a quarter of a century, he also launched himself on a path that would lead to his award-winning, Oscar-nominated animated film, Waltz with Bashir, and an accompanying graphic memoir of the same title, developed in tandem with it.

The first part of that book -- of his memoir/journey -- appeared at TomDispatch last Saturday. When we left him, a former friend and fellow soldier was just describing his grim landing on a beach in Lebanon in the early days of the invasion. Now, in part 2 of Waltz with Bashir, we pick up the story soon after the seemingly blank landscape of Folman's memory has suddenly, inexplicably, been illuminated by a -- flashback? hallucination? memory? -- of himself rising naked from the sea to step into a war-torn Beirut night.

Part 2 of this exclusive excerpt from Waltz with Bashir takes up after Folman has managed to reconstruct his first days of the war. In the stunning, unnerving pages that follow, he begins to restore to memory his arrival in Beirut and the events that will ultimately lead him to the dark, shattering center of what he has forgotten: the horror of the massacre of Palestinians in Beirut's Sabra and Shatila refugee camps.

Like the film, this is a book that must be experienced. (To order it, click here.) Unfortunately, given recent events, it couldn't be more of the moment. When asked by a Washington Post reporter how it feels to have his film released in the U.S. "just as Israel is at war again, this time in Gaza," Folman responded,: "There is a constant conflict, you know, so it's always happening again. This film is always being updated. It is always relevant to current events."

Click for more excerpts from Waltz with Bashir.

Comments

[Ergon]

Only those who were there could understand the horrors of war, and I truly feel sorry even for the soldiers following the orders of old and corrupt men.

[Taxi]

Congratulations, Ari, on your difficult yet necessary story.

I had a memorable business trip to Beirut once in '74. I am told '74 was the year that Beirut was culturally and financially 'peaking' since it's independence from the French in '46 so I really lucked out there.

Since then, I always read up on middle east news. In '82 I remember following with grave worry the Israeli invasion of Lebanon - rolling tanks into the heart of Beirut, the death of thousands of Lebanese civilians in the fall of Beirut. At the time, I felt anger and hostility at a bombastic Sharon and his invading army. I remember the horrible sinking feeling as I read about the massacre of Sabra and Shatila. I remember debating with a Jewish friend about the morality of a war that had lost its conscience . When I told my friend that I thought the young IDF soldiers overseeing Sabra and Shatila were Israel's lost souls, he became emotional and wept. It was all so very sad.

And now here you are, Ari, proving me wrong with your incredibly brave and beautiful story. Evidently, amidst the fog and fire of war, an honest soul was born, or preserved. I tip my hat to you also for walking the tight-rope of not offending your countrymen yet telling your very human and thoughtful story. A story that may even move the heart of the very sniper that was shooting at your waltzing soldier.

A bleak yet stunning

[Taxi]

I meant to close with: A bleak and stunning endeavor.