Grave of the Fireflies

Rating: 10/10 (17 October 2017)

Grave of the Fireflies is a powerful, tear-jerking animated film that conveys the feelings and hardships of the Japanese at the end of World War II, as well as the selfishness of children, through the story of two siblings. The story revolves around Seita, who is fourteen and his younger sister Setsuko, who is four. The movie begins with Seita dying of starvation in a train station after Japan surrenders. There is a flashback to the last year of Seita's life, beginning with hundreds of American fire bombers fly over his neighborhood. Seita and Setsuko bury key supplies before fleeing their home, which they must do because of their father, like most men at the time, was at war, and their mother had a heart condition and had to get a head start to get to the bomb shelter on time. As they begin to evacuate, bomber planes begin dropping bomblets intended to start fires, and soon the neighborhood is destroyed. While the two are unharmed, their mother suffers severe burns and soon dies. The two go to live with their aunt because their house has been burned to the ground. The two retrieve the supplies that they buried and give them to their aunt. While first glad to have them because she is under the impression that military and navy families get benefits (Seita and Setsuko's father was a captain in the navy) and she is under the impression that their mother is still alive, but the aunt soon begins to complain that the two siblings are not doing their shared to put good food on the table, and the two eventually leave and move to abandoned bomb shelter where they steal to in an attempt to survive. They aren't able to steal enough though, and Setsuko slowly dies due to malnutrition. Setia cremated her and wanders around, essentially waiting to die, eventually ending up at the train station where he dies, as shown in the beginning of the movie. The movie ends with Seita and Setsuko's spirits going back into their memories of normal childhood before the war. The film offers a unique view of the war by portraying those that lived during the war as real human beings that have fears rather than as perfect heroes to avoid alienating younger generations and help them sympathize for the generation that experienced the war. For example, there are scenes that the siblings play that bear a resemblance to regular children because even though there is a full-blown war going on, children are still children. This movie also shows how children were sort of expected to grow up faster during the war. There is an especially touching scene from which the film gets its name, that reminds the viewer that these are just children. The night that they leave their aunt's home and move into an abandoned bomb shelter, Seita and Setsuko catch fireflies and put them in a jar for light. When they wake up the next morning, all the fireflies have died. Setsuko is greatly affected by this, while making a grave for them Setsuko cries, asking why the fireflies and her mother had to die. This scene is touching, because a young girl, who shouldn't have to know this much about death and hardship has already faced so much. The same sentiment about having children grow up faster could also be a critique of children, saying that they are stubborn and only care about themselves. For example, Seita decided to run away from their aunt (who fed them and gave them a place to live after their mother died) because he argued with his aunt when he complained about the quality of food they were eating as opposed to the aunt's daughter and the other man at the house that worked to help in the war effort, and the aunt said that they did nothing to help the country, so why should they deserve better food? These were difficult times, and if he really hated the food, Seita could have gotten a job like most older children of the time, such as the aunt's daughter and because schools were burned down, it's not like he had something better to do. If he really didn't want to work, he could have made up with his aunt by apologizing and accepting the food that maybe didn't taste as good, but would still keep them alive. To conclude, Grave of the Fireflies is a movie worth watching because of its touching and realistic view of everyday life in Japan at the end of the war, and the hardships that young children had to deal with.