Truly Heartbreaking

Rating: 10/10 (21 June 2001)

**SPOILERS**I saw "Hotaro no haka" on german TV the other day and it has changed my life! Never have I been so moved by a film in my whole life. I cried and cried and cried. Since then I can´t get this heartbreaking story out of my head.
After the movie I went upstairs to the bedroom, where my 3-year-old daughter was sleeping. I woke her up and took her in my arms. In the way she talks and acts she is just like Setsuko, one of the main characters in the film. And I can´t help feeling like Seita, her brother - because my daughter and I are alone since my wife left us a few months ago.
I found one of the most touching scenes was the one where the dying Setsuko starts sucking the buttons she collected, because she ran out of her special sweets. I will also never forget how her brother cremates her after having tried everything to save his little sister. The most depressing thing with this movie is: you feel so helpless. You think: Man, I wish I could have helped those kids.
This movie has changed my whole attitude to life. All the problems you may have - they become so small. Watch it and you´ll be a different person.
Michael Saunders