Staggeringly Real

Rating: 10/10 (23 November 2002)

This anime is one of the greatest films ever made. It could easily be ranked with films like "Broken Blossoms" by D.W. Griffith (1919). It is a classic tragic play. One not only sympathizes with the characters, but through the skill of all involved in making this work, one identifies with them. Their misfortune becomes your misfortune. It is your misfortune, for as the film points out: nations that are enamored of their destiny do not care about people, especially those too young or too weak to fight. The consequences of their do not fall on those responsible, but upon the innocents, the children.
It is also a film about the unconquerable nature of the innocent spirit: the downtrodden children are more alive than those who are not starving. They experience life, they do not merely pass through it. Even in their misfortune, their destiny is eternal.
Do not pass this film by. See it and think about its message.