Painful yet beautiful masterpiece

Rating: 9/10 (7 July 2014)

If you look up beautifully haunting in the dictionary you will get 'Grave of the Fireflies'. When I first watched this film it was late at night & I was alone in my room. The movie's final climatic act hit me very deeply. But it was not until my second viewing of it that I more deeply looked at the brother/sister relationship we see in the film. During the second viewing of this film I invited my little brother to come watch the film with me. While watching the film I began to realize that the relationship between Seito & Setsuko was in fact very similar to my relationship with my younger sibling. I do think the film shows us a strong anti-war feeling when we're done viewing it, but it doesn't feel like it's trying to push its beliefs down our throats. During the films final act while we see flashbacks of what Setsuko was doing while Seito was away us already knowing about her demise, I began to look over at my younger brother. He was not really feeling the emotional touch that I felt (mostly because he was fiddling with my watch the entire movie). I looked over at him playing with my watch & I saw how he like many other children are basically another Setsuko & for a child to be in the position she was it just put me to tears. I stayed there until the end crying into a pillow while my brother looked on. Dark at times but beautiful in the moments we least expect. 'Grave of the Fireflies' did to war, what 'Requiem for a Dream' did to drugs. In conclusion, this film is a masterpiece with beautiful sceneries & a beautifully touching story! A must watch not just for anime fans or family people but to anyone...