--- title: "Waltz with Bashir: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/waltz-with-bashir/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/waltz-with-bashir" critics_score: 75 critics_reviews: 6 licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Waltz with Bashir (2008): what the critics said Critics' score 75 from 6 reviews: 5 positive, 0 mixed, 1 negative. Most critics respond warmly to Waltz with Bashir, with praise centred on its animation and its treatment of memory, trauma and guilt. The reviews describe dreamlike images that turn interviews and recollections of the 1982 Lebanon War into something more unsettling than straightforward testimony. Many find that the personal search for clarity gives the film moral force, while the blending of combat, dreams and remembered experience makes its documentary approach persuasive. The spread of opinion is wide, however, particularly over whether the stylisation brings the experiences closer or keeps them at a distance. The AV Club admires the subjective intensity but finds the approach less convincing as direct journalism. Slant Magazine offers the sharpest dissent, arguing that the film establishes its point early and then repeats it to wearying effect. The Hollywood Reporter also questions the narrative momentum and finds the animated interviews uneven. ## Screen Daily Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 15 May 2008. Festival review. The critic calls it one of the most powerful statements at Cannes, a potent anti-war movie and moral indictment of Israeli conduct during the 1982 Lebanon War and Sabra and Shatila massacre. The unique animated style and personal perspective deliver a strong impact. [Read the review](https://www.screendaily.com/animation/waltz-with-bashir/4038809.article) ## The AV Club — Tasha Robinson Rating B. 25 December 2008. The film expands dialogues into dreamy animated visions that comment on the elusive nature of memory and consciousness, with striking subjective intensity in its depictions of combat chaos. Its extreme stylization can feel distancing and lacks the realism of live footage, resulting in an impressionistic portrait rather than a direct journalistic inquiry. [Read the review](https://www.avclub.com/waltz-with-bashir-1798205429) ## Slant Magazine — Nick Schager Fi1m's normalised score 40/100 (inferred from the text). 21 September 2008. The director understands how the psyche denies and embellishes trauma, and the animation lends a striking surreal beauty while serving as a thematic distancing device. The film makes its point early and restates it repeatedly in a drearily redundant way, creating an enervating sense of remoteness that is structurally logical but ultimately schematic. [Read the review](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/waltz-with-bashir/) ## Empire — Dan Jolin 23 October 2008. The critic praises the film's innovative animated approach to exploring the director's repressed memories of the 1982 Lebanon War and its personal and political impact. The stark animation effectively blends recollection, dreams, and experience, culminating in a powerful use of real footage. [Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/waltz-bashir-review/) ## The Guardian — Peter Bradshaw 23 November 2008. The critic praises the film's hypnotic animation style and its powerful exploration of memory, guilt and the 1982 Sabra and Shatila massacres. The shift to real newsreel footage at the end is singled out as devastating. [Read the review](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2008/nov/23/waltz-with-bashir-review) ## The Hollywood Reporter 14 May 2008. Festival review. The critic finds mixed results in this self-styled animated documentary about a director recovering repressed memories of his service in the 1982 Lebanon War through interviews and recreations. Some scenes have visceral poetic power, but the monochromatic palette, choppy animation of interviews, lack of narrative thrust, and delayed mention of key events like the Sabra and Shatila massacres limit its impact. [Read the review](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/waltz-bashir-126488/) ## The New Yorker — Anthony Lane 28 December 2008. The critic praises the film’s unusual adult psycho-documentary combat cartoon style, fluid imagery, and its honest confrontation of trauma and guilt without easy resolution. He notes the powerful effect on the viewer but calls the switch to real news footage at the end a mistake. [Read the review](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2009/01/05/private-wars) ## The New York Times — A.O. Scott 25 December 2008. The critic calls it an altogether amazing film that is a memoir, history lesson, combat picture, and piece of investigative journalism. He singles out its unique animated documentary approach for creating astonishing aesthetic integrity and searing moral power. [Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/26/movies/26bash.html) ## The Times — Cosmo Landesman 23 November 2008. The review calls the animated documentary harrowing and haunting, highlighting its unique focus on the subconscious and how young soldiers process trauma rather than conventional battle scenes. The film's critical stance on Israel and its domestic reception are also noted. [Read the review](https://www.thetimes.com/comment/register/article/waltz-with-bashir-the-sunday-times-review-3s0kpt2cq5z) ## Time Out — Dave Calhoun Rating 4 out of 5 stars. 1 October 2008. The critic praises the film's vivid animated recreation of memories from the 1982 Lebanon War and its exploration of recollection and guilt. The animation stands out as revelatory and the film is described as beautiful and compelling despite its grim subject. [Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/waltz-with-bashir) ## Total Film 21 October 2008. The review highlights the film's exceptional animated style that turns interviews into a hallucinogenic yet reverential experience, making the history of the Sabra and Shatila massacre and the director's quest for clarity uniquely compelling. It notes the effective contrast with real photography at the end. [Read the review](https://www.gamesradar.com/waltz-with-bashir-review/) ## Eye for Film — Amber Wilkinson Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 21 November 2008. The critic praises Folman's use of animation to engage audiences with the recalled events of the 1982 Lebanon War in a way simple testimony could not. The film is described as a haunting and powerful document about the harrowing effects of war on participants, using actual documentary footage sparingly but with great impact. [Read the review](http://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/waltz-with-bashir-film-review-by-amber-wilkinson) ## Paste — Jesse Jarnow Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 26 December 2008. The critic praises the film's powerful animation that visualizes memory and trauma from the 1982 Lebanon War. They highlight the emotional intensity and the impactful fourth-wall shattering climax. [Read the review](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/ari-folman/waltz-with-bashir) ## The Skinny — Gail Tolley Rating ★★★★. 17 November 2008. The critic praises how the film sidesteps desensitization to war imagery through its striking animated style in vivid yellows and greens, achieving a fresh perspective on the Israeli-Lebanon conflict of 1982. Folman's personal reconstruction of suppressed memories via interviews blends dreamlike animation with documentary elements, challenging viewers' interactions with fact and fiction so that the real footage lands with proper impact. [Read the review](https://www.theskinny.co.uk/film/new-releases/waltz-with-bashir) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/waltz-with-bashir.md