Waltz with Bashir ****

"Waltz with Bashir," like "Persepolis" before it, uses animation to illuminate a documentary. Spurred by a conversation with an old friend about a recurring nightmare, director Ari Folman realizes that he doesn't remember what happened to him when he was a soldier during the invasion of Lebanon in 1982. His interviews with fellow soldiers from that time, as well as conversations with psychologists, are depicted and illustrated, as he begins to remember the fearful circumstances of the time. Eventually he gets to the atrocity that his mind had walled off. This is strong stuff, and beautifully told.

Rated R. 90 minutes. Ari Folman - Director / Writer (writer) / Producer, Serge Lalou - Producer, Gerhard Meixner - Producer, Yael Nahlieli - Producer, Roman Paul - Producer, Max Richter - Composer, Feller Nili - Editor. Produced by Bridgit Folman Film Gang. Distributed in the U.S. by Sony Pictures Classics. In Hebrew with English subtitles.

Principal participants: Ron Ben-Yishai, Ronny Dayag, Ari Folman, and Dror Harazi.