By the way, I watched the serious Israeli animated film Waltz with Bashir (Vals Im Bashir). First time I've heard so much Hebrew – sounds alright, doesn't put me off, unlike German or Latvian (which I'm sick of simply because it's everywhere around). Watched it with Russian subtitles, on a tip from a non-existent blog.
The film is made very beautifully and atmospherically. The character drawing, though, in my opinion, is peculiar. I'd bet that it's half due to the limitations of computer graphics tools, and half the director's intent. The music fits well too, although in places it's too conservative and ordinary, even though it was made by the famous contemporary classical composer Max Richter, whom Gorokhov was just recently talking about.
The film itself is about the previous war in Lebanon and the massive two-day slaughter of other Lebanese by Lebanese Christians, who were supported by Israel. The Israelis didn't stop the massacre, which they felt really bad about later.
The only thing I didn't get - what the point of such a film is anyway. I mean, it's clear that for the characters in the story and the Israeli people in general it's sort of like repentance, re-evaluation and all that. There's also sort of a simple moral present, that war and indifference are stupid and bad. That the indifferent close their eyes, while evil happens all around.
But overall for the audience – where is the big idea, so to speak? I didn't see one here, and therefore I didn't really like the film overall. But it's undoubtedly watchable, if only for the graphics and the directing, which is pleasing in places.
