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Summary: One night at a bar, an old friend tells director Ari about a recurring nightmare in which he is chased by 26 vicious dogs. Every night, the same number of beasts. The two men conclude that there's a connection to their Israeli Army mission in the first Lebanon War of the early eighties. Ari is surprised that he can't remember a thing anymore about that period of his life. Intrigued by this riddle, he decides to meet and interview old friends and comrades around the world... (IMDB)
Animation as foggy memory works well here. The images alternate between beautiful and horrifying, creating an aesthetic tension that works well for the ambiguous position of the filmmaker. The surprising conclusion works well in concretizing the memory. All that said, the film's meandering exposition falls flat for long sections, leaving the film without a strong narrative arc.
I previously had some issues with this film, but did not react the same way this time around. Perhaps I have become even more cynical. Still think this had a lot more potential though, and there is a particular scene which overwhelms me and partly explains the decent rating. Not the final scene though. I will even argue that the wake up call of the final scene should have been superfluous.
This animated documentary has a real hypnotic quality which grows on the viewer with every scene, meaning the only gripe is that you're left wanting more after the paltry 80-minute runtime. Comes across as slow-moving and slightly pretentious at first, but once the story starts to pick up pace and you get used to the overall style (a mixture of animated visuals/genuine audio interviews, fantasy sequences, and straight reconstructions of events) it's extremely compelling.
The ending was very abrupt and felt out of place. A lot of the same themes were revisited over and over, which made the film feel mechanical and repetitive. What was interesting initially quickly became mundane.