During the first Lebanon War in 1982, film-maker Ari Folman served with the Israel Defense Force in Beirut. More than 25 years later, an encounter with a troubled former comrade stirs repressed memories of his tour of duty and prompts him to interview the men he fought alongside. Presenting the live-action footage of meetings as a mix of Flash animation and 3D, the film's seductive visuals give the resulting war stories a surreal edge in which guilt and post-traumatic stress intertwine in hallucinatory ways. For all its talk of dreams and memory, though, the heart of this powerful documentary concerns a very real war crime: the massacre of Palestinians in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps by Christian militia gunmen. Instead of excusing the Israeli Army's role in the atrocity, Folman offers a harrowing portrait of a generation of young soldiers forever scarred by the horrors of war.

PLOT SUMMARY

Award-winning animated documentary. Haunted by his combat experiences during the first Lebanon War in 1982, film-maker Ari Folman interviews old friends and Israeli comrades from that conflict, presenting the collective memories in a passionate bid for redemption.

Jamie Russell, in Radio Times Film Guide