Both films avoid scenes concerned with victory or triumph, rather concentrating on the boring, administrative or traumatic, horrific aspects of war. These raw depictions aim to craft accurate representations of the experience of a soldier, involving tedious tasks and graphic agony, rather than heroic exploits. According to Gavin Davie’s analysis of the “Hero Soldier,” ideals of heroic exploits, and the archetype of the hero, are deeply, and collectively engrained into the human psyche, connotative of characteristics such as “principled, honest, spiritual, and benevolently oriented toward others.” (Davie, 6) Traditionally, heroes perform grandiose actions of “altruism, citizenship and bravery,” and when translated to a war setting, this means
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In the case of Waltz with Bashir, where every war scene is a flashback or memory, soldiers are depicted through the lens of another peer, providing a raw, 1st hand perspective of the experience of an Israeli soldier during the events surrounding the massacre of Sabra and …show more content…
But, the lack of fighting, and focus on the boring, seemingly meaningless office work, has the same effect concerning the film’s portrayal of heroism. Living out a staid daily routine of fetching coffee for the officers, logging paperwork into the computer, and competitively playing minesweeper, the film depicts the female soldiers as nonessential, not contributing much in terms of fighting the enemy. For the complete opposite reasons as Waltz, these pencil pushers show no heroism, merely surviving day to day, underperforming their office duties, fighting with each other as opposed to the opposing military forces. Also, with inclusions of suicide and rape scenes, the film depicts gruesome aspects of base life as well, again showcasing the non-glorious parts of war, highlighting conflict from within. Portraying a majority of the female soldiers as lazy and unmotivated, Zero doesn’t attempt to glorify their administrative roles, rather embracing the tedious nature of their work, showing realistic aspects of the behind-the-scenes work that happens on a military base. In conjunction with the graphic suicide and rape scenes, the film may come across as difficult to watch, mainly due to the boring nature of the office work, and
In the case of Waltz with Bashir, where every war scene is a flashback or memory, soldiers are depicted through the lens of another peer, providing a raw, 1st hand perspective of the experience of an Israeli soldier during the events surrounding the massacre of Sabra and …show more content…
But, the lack of fighting, and focus on the boring, seemingly meaningless office work, has the same effect concerning the film’s portrayal of heroism. Living out a staid daily routine of fetching coffee for the officers, logging paperwork into the computer, and competitively playing minesweeper, the film depicts the female soldiers as nonessential, not contributing much in terms of fighting the enemy. For the complete opposite reasons as Waltz, these pencil pushers show no heroism, merely surviving day to day, underperforming their office duties, fighting with each other as opposed to the opposing military forces. Also, with inclusions of suicide and rape scenes, the film depicts gruesome aspects of base life as well, again showcasing the non-glorious parts of war, highlighting conflict from within. Portraying a majority of the female soldiers as lazy and unmotivated, Zero doesn’t attempt to glorify their administrative roles, rather embracing the tedious nature of their work, showing realistic aspects of the behind-the-scenes work that happens on a military base. In conjunction with the graphic suicide and rape scenes, the film may come across as difficult to watch, mainly due to the boring nature of the office work, and