ABSTRACT
The 2008 animated film Waltz with Bashir (Folman) centres around an absence. The director, Ari Folman, served as a sol-dier during the war between Israel and Lebanon in 1982. After visiting a friend who is haunted by dreams recalling incidents from the war, Folman, who up until this point had no substantial memories of the war, experiences what might be, what seems to be, a strange memory. He is bathing in the sea with two fellow soldiers as flares start to fall, lighting up the city. They walk out of the sea, dress, and walk through the street where they meet crowds running, scared, stricken. Folman cannot, however, recall the events relating to this moment. This absence, it transpires, marks his lost memory of the Sabra and Shatila massacre.
