Beautiful and haunting (suggestive spoilers)

Rating: Null/10 (5 November 2006)

Being the only film from Ghibili film that Disney didn't buy suggested to me that this was either so bad they didn't want it or for some reason something that the makers felt was too special to them to sell off with the rest of the films. (This is not to suggest that the other Ghibili's have been cheapened by Disney because mostly I think they have done a very good job on the majority of them). Knowing the quality of the Ghibili studio, I had good faith that this would be a good film and I was pleased to find myself drawn into a small-scale look at the WW2 as it had its impact on two children living in Japan. Seita finds himself looking after younger sister Setsuko while his father fights and his mother is killed in a bombing raid. The story follows them as they try to survive alone while rationing and bombing limits their access to food.
In a way it isn't that general a film about suffering in a war torn country because the story is quite specific but this does not limit its impact or value. The script and the deliver produce strong characters in Seita and Setsuko and they make it easy to get involved with them and care for what happens to them. In this regard it is a tremendously strong film because as it tears the hearts out of our characters it equally rips at the viewer. It is more than the basic "war is hell" stuff and I must confess I appreciated just how "human" a story it was. Setsuko is the type of wonderful child that I wish more American films could get instead of the precocious brats they mostly cast  she is beautiful and full of life (thanks in part to the voice work of Shiraishi) and it makes it all the more crushing to see her lose that spark as the film progresses. Seita is as good a character in a different way and he too is well brought out by Tatsumi.
The animation is amazing and I did have to keep reminding myself that this was made over 15 years ago because it still looks impressive years later. It captures the heart of the character and has rich backgrounds and detail. It is easy to see why some reviewers have got so worked up over others referring to this as a "cartoon"! Overall then this is an engaging and memorable film whose strength comes from many aspects  animation, characters, heart, all these things gripped me and hurt me. It doesn't make wider points about war and conflict, it simply focuses on the effects it has on these two specific children and it is all the more impacting for it.