Release CalendarDVD & Blu-ray ReleasesTop 250 MoviesMost Popular MoviesBrowse Movies by GenreTop Box OfficeShowtimes & TicketsIn TheatersComing SoonMovie NewsIndia Movie Spotlight
    What's on TV & StreamingTop 250 TV ShowsMost Popular TV ShowsBrowse TV Shows by GenreTV NewsIndia TV Spotlight
    What to WatchLatest TrailersIMDb OriginalsIMDb PicksIMDb Podcasts
    OscarsBest Picture WinnersBest Picture WinnersEmmysLGBTQ+ Pride MonthSTARmeter AwardsSan Diego Comic-ConNew York Comic-ConSundance Film FestivalToronto Int'l Film FestivalAwards CentralFestival CentralAll Events
    Born TodayMost Popular CelebsMost Popular CelebsCelebrity News
    Help CenterContributor ZonePolls
For Industry Professionals
  • All
  • Titles
  • TV Episodes
  • Celebs
  • Companies
  • Keywords
  • Advanced Search
Watchlist
Sign In
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • Trivia
IMDbPro

Waltz with Bashir

Original title: Vals Im Bashir
  • 20082008
  • RR
  • 1h 30m
IMDb RATING
8.0/10
58K
YOUR RATING
Waltz with Bashir (2008)
This is the theatrical trailer for Waltz with Bashir, directed by  Ari Folman.
Play trailer2:06
1 Video
89 Photos
  • Documentary
  • Animation
  • Biography
An Israeli film director interviews fellow veterans of the 1982 invasion of Lebanon to reconstruct his own memories of his term of service in that conflict.An Israeli film director interviews fellow veterans of the 1982 invasion of Lebanon to reconstruct his own memories of his term of service in that conflict.An Israeli film director interviews fellow veterans of the 1982 invasion of Lebanon to reconstruct his own memories of his term of service in that conflict.
IMDb RATING
8.0/10
58K
YOUR RATING
  • Director
    • Ari Folman
  • Writer
    • Ari Folman
  • Stars
    • Ari Folman(voice)
    • Ron Ben-Yishai(voice)
    • Ronny Dayag(voice)
Top credits
  • Director
    • Ari Folman
  • Writer
    • Ari Folman
  • Stars
    • Ari Folman(voice)
    • Ron Ben-Yishai(voice)
    • Ronny Dayag(voice)
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 170User reviews
    • 238Critic reviews
    • 91Metascore
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Nominated for 1 Oscar
      • 45 wins & 63 nominations total

    Videos1

    Waltz with Bashir: Trailer
    Trailer 2:06
    Waltz with Bashir: Trailer

    Photos89

    Waltz with Bashir (2008)
    Waltz with Bashir (2008)
    Waltz with Bashir (2008)
    Waltz with Bashir (2008)
    Waltz with Bashir (2008)
    Waltz with Bashir (2008)
    Waltz with Bashir (2008)
    Waltz with Bashir (2008)
    Waltz with Bashir (2008)
    Waltz with Bashir (2008)
    Waltz with Bashir (2008)
    Waltz with Bashir (2008)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Ari Folman
    Ari Folman
    • Selfas Self
    • (voice)
    Ron Ben-Yishai
    • Self - Intervieweeas Self - Interviewee
    • (voice)
    Ronny Dayag
    • Self - Intervieweeas Self - Interviewee
    • (voice)
    Ori Sivan
    • Self - Intervieweeas Self - Interviewee
    • (voice)
    Shmuel Frenkel
    • Self - Intervieweeas Self - Interviewee
    • (voice)
    Zahava Solomon
    • Self - Intervieweeas Self - Interviewee
    • (voice)
    • (as Prof. Zahava Solomon)
    Dror Harazi
    • Self - Intervieweeas Self - Interviewee
    • (voice)
    Miki Leon
    Miki Leon
    • Boaz Rein-Buskilaas Boaz Rein-Buskila
    • (voice)
    Yehezkel Lazarov
    Yehezkel Lazarov
    • Carmi Cna'anas Carmi Cna'an
    • (voice)
    • Director
      • Ari Folman
    • Writer
      • Ari Folman
    • All cast & crew
    • See more cast details at IMDbPro

    More like this

    Persepolis
    8.0
    Persepolis
    The Triplets of Belleville
    7.7
    The Triplets of Belleville
    The Congress
    6.4
    The Congress
    Made in Israel
    6.5
    Made in Israel
    Saint Clara
    6.9
    Saint Clara
    The Act of Killing
    8.2
    The Act of Killing
    The Illusionist
    7.5
    The Illusionist
    It's Such a Beautiful Day
    8.2
    It's Such a Beautiful Day
    HorseBoy
    HorseBoy
    Lebanon
    6.9
    Lebanon
    Paprika
    7.7
    Paprika
    Flee
    7.9
    Flee

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      The first animated film to be nominated for Best Foreign Language Film Oscar.
    • Goofs
      The narrator refers to the transport helicopter as a "Hercules helicopter", which is a confusion of the C-130 Hercules cargo plane with the CH-53 Stallion helicopter, the latter being the true transportation device.
    • Quotes

      Anonymous soldier: What to do? What to do? Why don't you tell us what to do?

      Ari Folman: Shoot!

      Anonymous soldier: On who?

      Ari Folman: How should I know on who? Just shoot!

      Anonymous soldier: Isn't it better to pray?

      Ari Folman: Pray and shoot!

    • Connections
      Featured in Golden Globe Awards (2009)
    • Soundtracks
      Organum
      Written and Performed by Max Richter

      Published by Mute Song Ltd

      Courtesy of Fatcat Records

    User reviews170

    Review
    Top review
    10/10
    An extraordinary achievement that redefines the documentary genre
    Let's get one thing straight from the beginning: Waltz With Bashir is an animated documentary. It may sound like a paradox, but hey, when the film played at the Cannes Film Festival (which it left with rave reviews but zero awards) it was inevitably compared to Persepolis, which is an animated autobiography. The comparison was also caused by both movies having open anti-war messages, but they couldn't be more different in concept and execution. They do have one important thing in common, though: they are animated not because it looked good, but because it was the best artistic choice the directors could make.

    In the case of Ari Folman, the choice was dictated by the unique angle from which he chose to tell the story: subjectivity. Folman, like many young Israeli men in the '80s, joined the army to fight in Lebanon when he was merely 18 (this was in 1982), thinking he could serve his country in the best way possible. Once the war was over, Folman's new career began, and he is now a successful actor, director and writer (among other things, he worked on the TV show that inspired HBO's In Treatment). However, he still wasn't able to completely get over the war experience, and so he decided to make Waltz With Bashir in order to exorcise his demons, so to speak. In doing so, he delivered one of the strongest, boldest documents about the true nature of conflict.

    Folman's introspective journey begins with the lack of memory: apparently, he and many of his fellow soldiers have trouble remembering the exact details of what happened in Lebanon. All they have left is dreams, like the haunting nightmare that opens the movie (26 murderous dogs surrounding the apartment of a former soldier, who believes it to be a subconscious punishment for his killing 26 dogs during a mission) or Folman's eerie flashback of himself and his friends emerging from the water after a massacre he can't (or perhaps doesn't want to) remember. Engaging in a pursuit of the truth, the director locates several people with first-hand recollections of those events, and all these people (minus two) supply their own voices for their animated counterparts.

    The stream of personal anecdotes and, as said earlier, dreams, made it impossible for Folman to show real footage of what he was trying to say. After all, how do you show a live-action dream sequence in a documentary without making it look corny? Hence the winning choice of rendering the whole story through animation, with just one exception (the final scene, the one that justifies the film's existence, consists of real filmed material). This gives the picture a feel that is both evocative and down-to-earth, a bizarre but powerful combination that has earned Waltz With Bashir comparisons with the similarly merciless Apocalypse Now. Like few other films about war (Folman has openly stated he despises Hollywood's treatment of the Vietnam conflict, not counting Coppola's masterpiece), this strange, captivating opus depicts it without making it look cool: it's ugly, it's reprehensible, it's the stuff nightmares are made of - not for nothing does it still haunt Folman and his friends.

    Journey of self-discovery, cinema as psychoanalysis, a document about the past, a warning for the future: Waltz With Bashir is all those things and much, much more. It's a unique piece of cinema, unmatched in its seamless mixture of raw power and peculiar visual beauty.
    helpful•205
    18
    • MaxBorg89
    • Jan 12, 2009

    FAQ2

    • Is "Waltz with Bashir" based on a book?
    • Who is Bashir?

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • June 12, 2008 (Israel)
    • Countries of origin
      • Israel
      • France
      • Germany
      • United States
      • Finland
      • Switzerland
      • Belgium
      • Australia
    • Official sites
      • Official site
      • Official site (France)
    • Languages
      • Hebrew
      • Arabic
      • German
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Вальс із Баширом
    • Production companies
      • Bridgit Folman Film Gang
      • Les Films d'Ici
      • Razor Film Produktion GmbH
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • $1,500,000 (estimated)
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $2,283,849
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $50,021
      • Dec 28, 2008
    • Gross worldwide
      • $11,179,372
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 30 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Dolby Digital
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

    Related news

    Contribute to this page

    Suggest an edit or add missing content
    Waltz with Bashir (2008)
    Top Gap
    By what name was Waltz with Bashir (2008) officially released in India in English?
    Answer
    • See more gaps
    • Learn more about contributing
    Edit page

    More to explore

    View list
    List
    The Best Movies Coming This Summer
    See the full list
    View list
    List
    The Best Movies and Shows to Watch in June
    See the full list

    Recently viewed

    Please enable browser cookies to use this feature. Learn more.
    Get the IMDb App
    • Get the IMDb App
    • Help
    • Site Index
    • IMDbPro
    • Box Office Mojo
    • IMDb Developer
    • Press Room
    • Advertising
    • Jobs
    • Conditions of Use
    • Privacy Policy
    • Interest-Based Ads
    IMDb, an Amazon company

    © 1990-2022 by IMDb.com, Inc.