Among greatest soulful flicks....absolute classic

Rating: 10/10 (7 July 2006)

Grave of The Fireflies
Made in Japan in 1988.Also known as 'Hotaru no haka' in Japanese
Is there any bond stronger than 'Love'??.Love which has so much depth that human beings never understand it fully Is there any crime greater than killing humans by humans??
Grave of the Fireflies tells the story during World War 2.U.S bombers used such bombs against Japanese cities which creates fire storms.Among such cities was Kobe.It tells the story of Sieta a young teenager and his sister Setsuko who is 5 years old.Their mother is wrapped in bandage struggling in hospital.Their home,school everything burnt down Then starts one of the most beautiful and hauntingly emotional journey of struggle for survival And also embarks the faith of love between a brother and sister.
Grave of The Fireflies is an animation flick.But the beauty of story is so much realistic that it leaves even a more powerful impact.
The story of survival gets stronger and stronger as the movie moves on. They are given sheltered and food by a relative.But as we know our shadows even leave us in our bad times The brother and sister moves in a hillside cave and their survival story gets even stronger
The story is not only about survival and struggle but also the evil and ghostly effects of war. The story is about love and caring attitude which Sieta shows towards her little sister
The biggest asset of the flick is that it never tries to be melodramatic but it moves like a poetry Some of the most remarkable moments include when they catch fireflies to light up their cave and next morning Sieta finds his sister burying those dead fireflies Another moment is that when Sieta tells her sister that their mother is in hospital and she starts crying For a moment he keeps quiet and then starts rolling trying to make her sister laugh
But the most impactfull and tearjerking moment comes when Sieta brings many things for her sister to eat while she is ill and founds that her sister had made 'rice balls' of 'mud' and asks him to have it.This was one of the most 'Unforgettable' moment of cinematic experience.The truth,the beauty,the love,the struggle,the hunger and the soon the fate they are going to achieve all involve in this scene makes it 'One of the most haunting and depressing moments of a movie'
As being made in Japan many people haven't watched this.But with release of English dubbed DVD it is reaching to more and more people. Watching it feels like a privilege.
Grave of Fireflies is one of the most haunting war films.And in spite of being animated one can feel for the characters which is the biggest triumph of this flick.Elegance,tearjerking,sad and yet so much beautiful and cute
This is the best animated movie which beats all animated movies without having special effects with its touching storyline.Moments and dramatic events are not forced to create impact.But the story moves with so much elegance that the impact is spellbounding.A story told so beautifully that can melt everyone
To sum up this is the most humanly animated flick which has far more impact than most of our humanly flicks.One of the most beautiful and emotional flicks ever It's a film about death, but the film itself resonates with life. This is not only a flick this is a treasure
10/10