Thursday 7 April 2011

Books: Waltz with Bashir

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Waltz with Bashir
Written by Ari Folman
Art by David Polonsky

2009




Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
http://www.library.islington.gov.uk/TalisPrism/

Based upon the 2008 Israeli animated documentary film (written and directed by Ari Folman) Waltz with Bashir tells the story of one soldier's journey to recollect and understand what happened to him in one night in Beirut in 1982. Although there have been plenty of comic books that have made the translation from page to screen - this is one of the few that have been adapted the other way - but then is that a good thing? The artist David Polonsky was credited as the art director and chief illustrator of the film and it's hard to shake the feeling that with this book is nothing more than a cut and paste job. Saying that: the story is magnetic: told from the point of view from a solider out of his depth and alienated from the world around him and the illustrations are appropriately moody with lots of nice attention to colour: but it feels more like an interesting tie-in to the film rather than a separate entity in it's own right.

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Further reading: Palestine, Alan's War.

All comments welcome.

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