War veteran tackles Israel's 'collective amnesia'

0 Comments | AFP, May, 2008

CANNES, France (AFP) — Israel's Ari Folman, in Cannes to premiere his fiercely anti-war animation "Waltz With Bashir," says his country is awash with ex-soldiers like himself who have repressed horrific memories of their time in the Israeli army.

"A world expert on post-trauma I interviewed in the film told me that in Israel there are thousands of walking bombs," he told AFP in an interview, saying the country was suffering from a "collective amnesia."

"People, ex-soldiers who can live their lives, nothing happening, everything's cool, but one day they could just burst out and you will never know what will happen," he said.

"Waltz With Bashir," the Cannes film festival's first ever fully-animated documentary, deals with repressed memories, the horrors of war...