Watch it: it's an experience like no other

Rating: 10/10 (25 June 2010)

It's terribly sad, and you if you read the other reviews for this film here in the IMDb you will be certified by that, but I have to tell you that the most important is how beautiful and honest this movie was made and how it can really move in a way that you rarely seen. It's a Japanese movie, so many aspects that most people are used to is to watch a movie without knowing how it is going to end. Looking for a big climax, and, of course, after all the suffering that the characters are going to go through a happy ending. But, this movie is about the scars that the war left for a proud and defeated country, and more tragically, to the people of this country, and therefore it's unlikely that it ends well for our characters. And the main character of the movie is going to leave this message pretty clear right at the start of this movie informing the viewer that he died, alone in the platform of a train station , from what it seems from starvation, and in shame by the people that pass by him.
The main character, Seita, is teenage boy that it truly can be recognized as a hero. He lives with his mom and little sister, Setsuko, in a village that it's getting bombed by American airplanes, and then they need to flee from their home. From there, you start to watch the struggle that this boy goes through to live and to lookup his younger sister. I can't tell here the series of terrible situations because it would spoil the story too much, but I need to tell you the reasons why this is a so must see film. You will not find in another film a history of a love between brothers so innocent and authentic as you going to see in this movie, and by the end of the film you will be probably be feeling that you lost a younger brother yourself. You will start to wonder how things could have been any different. What you would have done in his place to survive and take care of this little girl with her 4 to 5 years in the middle of a place that was burned to the ground and where the people were also struggling to survive on their own?
If a movie can inflict these kinds of questions into your consciences then you know that it is a one of a kind experience. I consider that a filmmaker that plans and create a movie that has the capacity to indulge the viewers to this kind of feelings, whatever is filmed with real actors or animated, then I know that as an artist this person succeeded, because isn't this the true meaning behind the concept of "art"? Aren't the stories that a person tells to the other, however it be, if it's through a chat, or written in paper, or in a theater, or drawn into something, one of the most impressive abilities of human being can do? This is how remarkable it was to me this movie, it's truly special. Adult and serious animes sometimes appears with some really good stories, but with Grave of the Fireflies it's even more than that, it's a very emotional story mixed with an excellent production, especially for the actors that dubbed the original version of this movie that transmits such a realism to the scenes that gets into your soul. It's this impressive. It's more than a must see.