This morning's Times has the news of the strikes on Gaza killing over a hundred, and on the same front page there is this review of Ari Folman's movie, Waltz With Bashir, "Inside a Veteran's Nightmare," that raves about this "altogether amazing film."
This is complete and utter cognitive dissonance. As Folman said yesterday (on the Leonard Lopate show), the people who were stirred the most by his movie during its recent screenings were the people of Sarajevo. They know what it is to go thru a siege like the one he memorializes in his film, of Beirut in 1982. He told Robert Siegel (also on NPR yesterday) that his father told him not to make the movie; he would be hunted like a dog in Israel. Well, no, Folman said, everywhere he goes, the Israeli embassy hosts him and throws events for him. They are so proud of him, for the international attention he is getting. For the prestige he is gathering for Israeli arts and free speech.
Ari, brother, I know it's a beautiful movie, I can tell from everything I've heard. Wonderful, convulsive, I can't wait. I was about to blog about your honest about Sabra and Shatila. Electrifying. Now go out and spend some political/artistic capital. Denounce the siege and collective punishment of Gaza. Do it outside one of these fabulous events. And New York Times, find the live wires that connect art and life, discover the tragic hypocrisy between culture and reality. Americans: wake up.
