Gem of a movie.

Rating: 10/10 (16 January 2006)

Graveyard for fireflies is a heart rendering animated tale from japan that is based on the events of world war II invasion of japan by America. The movie highlights the evils of war and shows in detail the way lives of normal people get affected by political motives of power hungry leaders.
The story revolves around a boy and his young sister. Following the invasion by America, their happy lives are overturned and are left to face the hardships they had never expected. The beautiful thing to see, however, is their will to fight to adjust to deteriorating situations around them. As the story goes on, their resilience is finally overtaken by acute shortage of basic supplies. The hardest part of the movie to watch is how it leaves the brother helpless.
The boy shows exceptional courage for his age, and does his best, even goes out of the way at times, just to help keep his little sister happy and comfortable. Being a navy officer's son, he is filled with dignity and tries to keep it till the end. However, some viewers may find his dignity throwing few shades of ego in certain crucial moments of the film that they might feel, could have changed their situation, had he compromised.
Although the brother has a strong presence in the story, i t is the sister that wins hearts by her cuteness. The simple words, and child behaviour, is excellently depicted in her character. There are things she says during the movie that will leave you filled with emotions - warmth, joy, sadness.. you get attached to her the minute she appears in the movie. You go along with her sharing her joys and pains.The characterisation is so powerful that the viewers end up saying prayers for her in their hearts.
This is one story that will remain close to your heart for a long, long time. Words will not do justice to the movie, you will have to watch it. A word of warning though - you will feel depressed for a day to a month depending upon how emotional you are. An excellent movie, 10/10.