A Tale of Discarded Angels

Rating: 9/10 (17 August 2013)

Some films simply have it; that deep connective tissue between the audience and the main characters that make you care almost beyond bearing for them. To make you Care about their fates and their plight in a way that is truly rare and special. Grave of the Fireflies is among those films.
Grave of the Fireflies is an incredible animated film about two siblings struggling to survive war-torn Japan during the tail end of World War II after being made orphans by the war. It is about their struggles, their plights, and their love for one another. It is also well known as being one of the saddest films ever made. It also might change the way you look at animated films.
While the film is indeed incredibly sad. There are moments of beauty, levity and humor. The relationship between the siblings is treated with an unequaled tenderness. But because of how the film begins all of these moments occur under the shadow of inevitable tragedy and alter the way you will feel from these moments.
The animation is beautiful. Showing off sweeping and awe-inspiring vistas of rural Japan. The film does a magnificent job of juxtaposing natural beauty and man-made destruction, which mirrors the relationship of the brother and sister – beautiful but surrounded by tragic circumstances.
One of the running themes of Grave of the Fireflies is the cruelty of indifference. While these children struggle to survive, the surrounding adults ignore them and offer little help. Some are even overtly cruel towards them, particularly the children's' Aunt, who seems only interested in using them for extra rations, and then treats them with disdain when those rations are no longer available. While the war is to blame for the circumstances that put these children in this position, society as a whole is equally to blame for allowing the selfishness that makes this story possible and believable.
Grave of the Fireflies is one of the most devastating and emotionally affecting films I have ever seen. It has one of the most haunting conclusions I have ever seen. It is a film of such profound power that it can change the way you look at the world and increase the sympathy you feel for those around you.