Philosophy of Cinema in "Waltz With Bashir"

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Philosophy of Cinema
In the text, Gregory Flaxman evaluates the Gilles Deleuze works on the Movement-Image and the Time-Image in the account of philosophy. The text evaluates cinema as an art of movement and time. Analysis of Deleuze’s works showcases a deep analysis or comparison of cinematic expressions to different forms of thinking in the history of philosophy. For example, the analysis of Movement-Image and pre-war cinema makes a connection to ancient philosophy. As Britannica asserts, the fundamental principle in Aristotle’s philosophy is motion. Aristotle argues that everything that is in motion is moved by something else (Britannica). This ancient philosophy concept is used to propel the notion of Movement-Image put forwards as a central argument in the text (Flaxman 5). A similar analogy is evident in the 2008 animation film Waltz With Bashir by Ari Folman. The text argues that there is nothing like an independent image in the concept of Movement-Image. Instead, each image is backed up by another, and thus one image only makes sense because of the others that precede it. This analogy is similar to what happens to the main protagonist in the film as he tries to recover his memory. He can only make sense of the whole massacre after successive inquiries of what happened as narrated by old friends.
The concept of the Time-Image is more linked to a perspective of self-reflection as opposed to a paradigm of movement perception. The text pushes a central argument of a moment post World War II when cinematic art experienced a significant shift to become more subjective and self-conscious. Deleuze likens this shift to the change that takes place in Western thought to give rise to modern philosophy. The text particularly likens the change to the evolution of philosophy brought about by the works of Kant. As Deleuze observes, Kant’s works adopt a perspective where “time cease to be derived to become a pure form of interiority” (Flaxman 4). This shift is evident in the film, especially at the end when Ali remembers everything and realizes the trauma of war. The shift is also observed at the beginning of the film as o...