Powerful and Heartbreaking

Rating: Null/10 (11 November 2002)

"September 21, 1945...That was the night I died."-- Seita
Reading war statistics and even seeing bloody images on television does not fully communicate the horror of war as well as the heartbreaking Grave of the Fireflies, an anime feature directed by Isao Takahata, a long-time colleague of Hayao Miyazaki. The film tells the story of two children, Seita, a 14-year old boy and Setsuko, his 4-year old sister and their uphill struggle to survive the effects of American firebombing in Kobe near the end of World War II. Based on the semi-autobiographical novel of Akiyuki Nosaka, Grave is a powerful experience that powerfully communicates the strength of the human spirit to carry on against overwhelming odds.

Though despairing, the film does not resort to cheap melodrama to achieve its effect but delineates simple and direct images that are not watered-down to appeal to the children's market. It would indeed be too sad for most children under 13. In an interview with Cedric Littardi, AnimeLand magazine from 1992, Takahata said that he did not set out to depress the audience but to show a natural death, as opposed to a "scientific" death, the way most of us view it -- behind closed curtains in a sanitized hospital.

Takahata in some ways softens the impact of the tragedy at the outset by showing Seita dying outside a subway station and his spirit reunited with his little sister Setsuko. The story is told by flashback as the two children are left alone to fend for themselves when their mother is killed in the bombing campaign. When their father is also killed in the Navy, they must struggle against starvation, the cruelty of an aunt they trusted, people's general indifference, and their own pride. Though both children eventually succumb to malnutrition (or radiation poisoning), the animation is so lyrical that it creates a magical, dream-like effect. This does not mask the tragedy but makes it all the more poignant.
Nothing sums up the message of this film better than the beautiful poem, "I Come and Stand at Every Door" by Nazim Hikmat, one of the most important and influential figures in 20th-century Turkish literature.

I come and stand at every door. But no one hears my silent tread. I knock and yet remain unseen. For I am dead, for I am dead.
I'm only seven although I died. In Hiroshima long ago. I'm seven now as I was then. When children die they do not grow.
My hair was scorched by swirling flame. My eyes grew dim, my eyes grew blind. Death came and turned my bones to dust. And that was scattered by the wind.
I need no fruit, I need no rice. I need no sweet, nor even bread. I ask for nothing for myself. For I am dead, for I am dead.
All that I ask is that for peace. You fight today, you fight today. So that the children of this world. May live and grow and laugh and play.
-- Nazim Hikmet
In our day where our leaders are busily preparing for another war, it is important to remember the human cost of these plans and the untold suffering they will inevitably bring. Grave of the Fireflies should be required viewing in the Oval office.