Watch this movie, be prepared to be profoundly moved, and hopefully become a better person

Rating: 10/10 (4 November 2014)

I first watched this movie 10+ years ago, have probably watched it another 2 times since. Last time was about 4 years ago yet is still haunts me so much that I decided to create an IMDb.com account today to write this review as a kind of tribute to this masterpiece and the authors as well as the people it is about (the victims of war, the children who have endure great suffering).
The father I have become since I last watched this movie is all the more deeply impacted by this dramatic movie since my son is now approaching the age of the young Setsuko.
So many reviews have been written about this movie - I couldn't do better justice to this movie than most of those with my lacking English skills (foreign language for me). So instead of insisting on how sad and heart shattering the movie is (has been said in many reviews) I would also like to tell how beautiful it is at the same time.
I would like to testify how much this movie simply manages to pass through all the shells, protections, armor and shields we busy people wrap around our souls, in order to go straight to the core and connect us with our humanity. How much I want to tell my son (and the people I love) how much I love him, how much I pray that similar drama never occurs to him. How much I feel alive and privileged to not have had to endure more than a small fraction of the pain depicted in this movie. How much the elder brother I am recalls the brotherly bonds I had with my brother and sister, and the deep desire to protect them from outside evil (yet we grew in a peaceful and prosperous place so no such drama occurred to us).
Everyone: if you haven't watched this movie yet, do it. As emotional as it is, not even the wildest collection of superlative about the incommensurable sadness of this movie would miss the point, as it is beautiful and heart-changing (for the better) even more than it is sad. It will move you, but it may well reconnect you with parts of your humanity you didn't even know existed. It may be a good opportunity to ask yourself important questions and ultimately become a better person than you already are.
Not for too young people, not for children under 13 and even then, parental company and post-movie debrief strongly advised.