Grave of the Fireflies Impressions
Grave of the Fireflies is a Studio Ghibli movie from 1988 featuring a boy and his sister trying to survive the second world war during the American air raids on Japan. This movie starts out strong, setting the tone straight away from the very first line in the movie. It begins with the protagonist stating that he will die just nineteen days after Japan surrenders. We see a group of homeless, starving youth in what looks to be a train station as others walk by them without a second glance and sometimes the occasional insult. Just as one of the boys collapses a security guard prods him to check if he is still alive. After confirming his death, he checks the body and finds a tin candy container and throws it into the field outside the train station. Little did I know, this container contains a lot of symbolic importance throughout the film.
Warning: There will be unmarked spoilers ahead.
Seita is one of the main protagonists in the film along with his younger sister Setsuko. He is charged with taking care of his sister while their mother retreats to a nearby bomb shelter. Later when they are reunited with their mother they discover that she has been severely burned and does not survive the night. I found it odd that their mother did not take Setsuko with her to the shelter but if she did we would not have this movie.
After her death, Seita and Setsuko start to live with their "aunt". I can't help but wonder if this aunt was actually a relative as she treated the two children more like a dead friend's orphans rather than family. This living situation does not last long as their aunt is cruel to them, treating Seita a lazy burden and Setsuko as an annoying pest. She is also a mother to two older children so I would think she would understand that with the loss of their mother and a father fighting in the war that Seita does not have the will to look for work and has to take care of his sister alone.
After leaving their aunt's place the two siblings start to live outside in a bomb shelter by a lake. Seita is forced to forage and scrape by for food before finally resorting to stealing. His efforts are in vain as his sister soon starts to suffer from malnutrition and is becoming less and less active. Seita's growing desperation can be felt as the movie progresses as he begs, steals and loots during air raids. By the end he is forced to withdraw what little money is left in their mother's bank account but as soon he purchases proper food to feed his sister she passes away. This desperate act followed by complete hopelessness is further emphasized when the last meal he retrieved for his young sister is seen rotting and eaten by insects.
Both Seita and Setsuko are very strong characters and their voice actors did a fantastic job bringing out the emotions in each scene they are together. Seita is a capable yet stubborn boy whose father is currently fighting in the war. He appears to have militaristic ambitions passed down by his father along with a "take no shit from others" attitude. This attitude drives him to leave the safety of their aunt's house and fend for themselves. Setsuko is a very young girl around the age of seven or eight. She is playful, cheerful and often does not understand the implications of the destruction and carnage around her.
During these desperate times, the two find have a hard time finding any joy in life. What little happiness they can conjure derives from a single candy container they have kept before their mother passed away. They share this candy together and ration it for as long as they can. When it is finally empty, Seita fills it with water and gives it to his sister to drink the last sweet taste left behind inside. Afterwards it is used to store the important things to them such as the last memento from their mother, a ring. Seeing how this container is such an important part of the siblings lives and how it is thrown at the very beginning of the movie was very powerful.
Spoiler end.
I believe this movie did a fantastic job to demonstrate the hopelessness and despair felt by those living through the final months of the war. There is very little music in the film and when there is it is usually during happy moments. I thought it was an interesting contrast to use silence during the intense emotional scenes when compared to Hollywood's over the top tracks. It worked well and I felt you could feel the voice actors emotions come out a lot more with the lack of background music.
The animation was great and did a terrific job displaying the horrors of war without ever becoming overly graphic. The movies themes are very depressing but the visuals never stuck me as trying to push the depressing tone. There was always a sense of hope from a visual perspective with the use of many bright colours, from the catching of fireflies to the colours of food.
Overall I give this movie an 8. It is not a film you watch for fun but it is an experience that will take you on an emotional ride.
