Ari Folman’s new film – Where is Anne Frank

Filmmaker Ari Folman is well-known for his remarkable, award-winning animated anti-war feature film, Waltz with Bashir (2008) which was extremely critical of the First Lebanon War (1982-2000), in which he was personally involved.  Also using the animated style, his latest film entitled Where is Anne Frank, based on the iconic Diary of Anne Frank -- and later literature about her death and the death of her sister-- is a brilliant, provocative and controversial film.

The story, which mixes past and present, revolves around Kitty, Anne’s imaginary friend, to whom she writes her diary.  On a stormy night, the glass case where the famous diary is kept is suddenly smashed and a figure emerges from the ink on the hand-written pages – the figure of Kitty.  Kitty is a spunky young girl, who is looking for her friend, Anne.  On the one hand, she finds evidence of her everywhere – the Anne Frank House, a bridge named for her, a theater in her memory.  But nowhere does she find anything that offers a true memorial to Anne’s values and life.  Where is compassion? Where are the people working to save the refugee children who are facing deportation?

Just like the story of Anne, Kitty’s story is also about first love.  Kitty is befriended by a refugee boy, not surprisingly named Peter, who helps her on all her exploits.  They make a daring pair, ice skating over the frozen canals of Amsterdam, fleeing from the police, scampering away with the holy diary itself!

I had the chance to view the Hebrew dubbed version at the Jewish Film Festival of the Jerusalem Cinematheque, this week.  Ari Folman and some members of the voice-over cast were present at the screening.  Folman talked about the importance of creating a culturally sensitive version of the film for Hebrew-speaking audiences--much of the English script was loosely translated into a contemporary and relevant Hebrew for viewers in Israel.  Kitty too is updated when she goes through a makeover and comes out as a chic girl, with trendy clothes and lots of style.   

Folman also said that the film combines the past and the present: the Holocaust story known by audiences already, and the Kitty story, which represents the transition to the contemporary period and to the issues of today, especially vis a vis the need to help refugees and asylum seekers survive in the face of so much evil and apathy within contemporary society, both in Israel and abroad.  When asked about the delicate balance between past and present that this film endeavors to deal with, Folman said that it was probably 40% past and 60% present, which tells you where his real focus lies.

Many people within the Jewish community might be surprised by the attempt to liken the Holocaust to contemporary issues, such as today’s refugees, as if it takes away from the meaning and message of the Holocaust for our young people to learn about social responsibility today. Folman does not dodge this issue. He clearly thinks that you can do both, that there can be a particularistic as well as a universalistic message when learning about the Holocaust.

This is an extremely creative, artistic and serious animated film, highly recommended not only for children, which builds on an iconic story that is already so well-known by people everywhere.  The genius of a filmmaker like Ari Folman is how he takes the viewer to see the story through a contemporary lens where Holocaust denial, anti-Semitism, racism and apathy towards refugees are all equally anathema, especially for those who care about the legacy of Anne Frank.  This is a controversial message, since many people think that one cannot equate the Holocaust with anything. Folman, himself the son of Holocaust survivors, does not exactly equate the Holocaust with what is going on today with refugees. Rather, he is not afraid to communicate the idea that refugees who are suffering—who have lost everything and have nothing, as was the case with Jews during the Holocaust—must be saved and given a fair chance to rebuild their lives. The bold hint is that Jews too could have been saved during the Holocaust period as well if people had not been so apathetic.

This film is a remarkable production – the animation is vivid and colorful, the Nazis are portrayed as ghoulish and scary, and the barking German shepherds are reminiscent of the wild dogs in Waltz with Bashir.

The film has been recommended for 10 and up, but knowing my grandchildren as I do, I would recommend it for 12 and up. Take a look at the trailer of the original English-language version.  

Where is Anne Frank? opens the Jerusalem Film Festival

 The Jerusalem Film Festival is well underway in person!  This week, Ari Folman’s new animated feature film, Where is Anne Frank? was screened to thousands at the festival's opening event. You might remember the remarkable critical acclaim given to Ari Folman’s Waltz with Bashir, also an animated feature film.

His new film, Where is Anne Frank is based on the Diary of Anne Frank,  and brings to life Anne’s imaginary friend, Kitty, to whom she wrote her diary during the period that she was in hiding.  The story offers insights for young viewers into subjects such as fascism and life in hiding.  Knowing Ari Folman, and the political content of his previous film, it is not surprising that the film also touches on a contemporary subject – individual responsibility in regard to others in our society, especially when confronting issues such as racism and human rights.

The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, earlier this year.  Check out this interview with the filmmaker, Ari Folman, talking about the film on youtube.

"Waltz with Bashir" wins Golden Globe

Great news -- Waltz with Bashir by Ari Folman won the Golden Globe for best foreign language film! It's an important film -- combining animation with documentary in order to create an important anti-war statement.

Check out this interview with the filmmaker from the JTA (Jewish Telegraphic Agency) --
http://jta.org/news/article/2009/01/13/1002224/filmmaker-reveals-waltz-with-bashir-backstory

You should also read my review that has appeared on this blog -- just look for the entry in the listing of films in the right hand column on this page.

Viewing this film right now, as Operation Cast Lead is winding down, could be especially appropriate. It raises issues concerning some of the difficulties faced by our troops during wartime and provides insight into what it's like fighting on enemy turf. Not an easy film, but these are not easy times. Perhaps an historical perspective on the wars faced by our soldiers in the past is relevant at this time.

See also the insights and discussion guide available at the website of "Makom" (a department of the Jewish Agency which encourages "hugging and wrestling with Israel") at http://makom.haaretz.com/uncovering.asp

Israeli Oscars

The Israeli "Oscars", called the "Ophir" prizes (in memory of Shaike Ophir), were awarded this week at a ceremony in Tel Aviv.

The biggest winner is Ari Folman's Waltz with Bashir, which won the two important awards for best film and best direction. In addition, it received awards for screenplay, soundtrack, artistic design and editing. The film is not a feature film in the traditional sense. It is a full-length, animated, documentary film, which attempts to be therapeutic in its dealing with issues and nightmares that have been buried by Israeli soldiers for too long.

For more background and my analysis of the film, see my posting of July 27th below.

"Waltz with Bashir" directed by Ari Folman

Ari Folman is a brilliant filmmaker. He directed and scripted (together with Ori Sivan) the critically acclaimed Saint Clara. Here, he combines animation with full-length documentary in order to examine issues of memory, trauma and guilt that arise during wartime, and the film received a lot of attention at Cannes (May 2008).

Boaz is pursued in his dreams by 26 ferocious dogs. He recalls that when his tank squadron entered Lebanese villages at night, looking for terrorists, the dogs would bark and this would provide the terrorists with an advance warning that would help them get away. So, his job was to silence the dogs. He killed 26 dogs this way.

Now, more than 20 years later, filmmaker Ori Folman is also haunted by his memories of that war. He goes looking for his friends, to find out more about where they were and what they experienced during that war, and especially where they were that terrible night – the night of the Sabra and Shatilla massacre. He talks to his friend and co-filmmaker, Ori Sivan, as a friendly therapist, and to Ron Ishai, the journalist, who himself was there in Beirut at that time. One of his friends has run away to Holland, to a brutally stark and frozen landscape, far from reality. Another of his friends tells the story of his close escape, swimming south along the coast, trying to hook up with his platoon which deserted him in battle. And Folman himself is unable to shake the recurrent dream of naked Israeli soldiers getting up out of the waters of the Mediterranean and walking into Beirut. All of this graphically portrayed through animation.

Wartime includes so much destruction of life and property, so much indiscriminate killing. What can it possibly solve?

1982 War in Lebanon. Israel was fighting in Lebanon on the side of the Lebanese Christian Phalangists. Their leader, Bashir Gemayel, had only recently been chosen by the Lebanese Parliament as president of the Lebanese Republic, when he was murdered. In order to exact their revenge for this murder, the Phalangists chose one night during September 1982 and went into the Sabra and Shatilla refugee camps in West Beirut and massacred men and women and children, hundreds, maybe even thousands of Palestinians. The Israeli troops were located outside the camps, but were indirectly involved in the massacre, as was clearly documented in the Kahn Commission of Investigation (which led to the resignation of Ariel Sharon, then Defense Minister).

During the days following the massacre, I went –together with 400,000 Israelis -- to an enormous demonstration in Malchei Yisrael Square in Tel Aviv (later to be known as Rabin Square) to protest the role that the Israeli military played in this massacre. Ari Folman and his army buddies remember being there in Beirut, that night of the massacre. They were there, standing by, permitting the cruel and savage Phalangists to carry out their massacre. No wonder Ari Folman is suffering from nightmares and his friends are complaining of terrible memories till this day.

We were all emotionally involved in the second Lebanon War of two years ago. This film brings us back to the first one, which had been buried deep in our subconscious. That war lasted 18 years. And what did it achieve?

Watch a clip from Waltz with Bashir on youtube.

Additional recommended films about the futility, indiscriminate killing, and the traumas that were placed so heavily on the souls of our soldiers during the years of the War in Lebanon – Eli Cohen's Ricochets; Haim Bouzaglo's Time of the Cherries; Eran Riklis' Cup Final and most recently, Joseph Cedar's Beaufort (based on the book by Ron Leshem).