I'll confess that I started sobbing again in the first five minutes because the haunting scenes awoke emotional memories (not actual vivid memories) of the things that were about to happen to the children. I first watched Grave of the Fireflies many years ago (after reading ‘Ghibli' on the back of the DVD and mistakenly assuming it was a Miyazaki film), but since then, this review has been the only excuse I've had to rewatch it.
Perhaps the film's only drawback is that, being such an emotional journey, you rarely feel like revisiting it. For the characters involved it seems there is no point, but for us, the viewers, it is a vital learning curve. Especially poignant are the interspersed moments of happiness used to relieve the constant anguish, for they usually happen to everyone but Seita and Setsuko. Watching it feels a lot like running through quicksand the obstacles keep piling on, and the more the protagonists claw away at them, the faster they seem to sink beneath their weight. The film has a different sort of pacing, a refreshing angle on war, and brings a unique flavour to unconditional love, suffering and endurance. It's not due to whimsy that this anime is titled Grave of the Fireflies - there is not even a glimmer of light at the end of this tunnel.Īnd that is precisely what makes this film so beautiful it does not once flinch from the direst possibilities of human existence, but portrays misery in such a way that we never stop believing this story is worth telling.
GRAVEYARD OF THE FIREFLIES MOVIE
When the terms ‘heart-rending', ‘abject misery' and ‘oh my God, I'm going to kill myself' were invented, it was with this movie in mind. StorySay, isn't Studio Ghibli the one that makes those really cute movies about forest spirits and flying castles? Uh-huh, but it's also the one that in one ninety-minute masterstroke makes you question every ounce of faith you had in society.
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