Currently Watching: Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
Rating: 9/10
Grave of the Fireflies tops every list regarding the saddest films ever created, with the disclaimer that it is the kind of movie you can only watch once. I had not yet seen it and I couldn't imagine convincing anyone else to watch it with me. Having made it to the other side, I can now corroborate this popular claim; though I can honestly say I finished it with different emotions than I was led to expect.
Grave of the Fireflies takes place in the sunset years of World War II in imperial Japan, where we watch fourteen-year-old Seita take care of his four-year-old sister, Setsuko. Their father served in the imperial navy, and their mother is tragically lost in an American fire bombing. Sweet images of familial bonding are often marred by the macabre aftermath of war, particularly that of the human carnage left behind in the chaos. Even so, this is the closest we get to a "normal" setting for our ensemble.
The back half of Grave of the Fireflies is what caught me off guard the most. I expected this to be a movie that condemns the war crimes each world power was committing at the time. However, I didn't actually find this to be the central theme - regardless of the fact that the war was the catalyst for the setting. The real core of the story revolves around how this society treats Seita and Setsuko. American fire bombers may be the persistent threat, but ultimately the siblings' peers caused them more harm.
The central figure around this issue is Seita's and Setsuko's aunt. She graciously takes them under her wing after their mother's passing, but it isn't long before she berates them for not pulling their weight in times of war. Her contempt encourages the children to take matters in their own hands; a burden that Seita can hardly stave off for himself and Setsuko. I didn't find myself agreeing with every decision that Seita made on behalf of their survival, but I still felt empathetic for this child left to play father for another child. This empathy was not reciprocated in the other townsfolk and it ultimately forced the somber conclusion we watch for Seita and Setsuko. The title was magnificently poignant and its connection into the storyline was my absolute favorite part of the film.
I'm still not sure this is a real point against Grave of the Fireflies, but I wasn't sold on the chronology that was presented. The ending of the story was shown in the very beginning. While I believe this was intentional to lessen the blow down the line, I couldn't help but feel a little of the effect was lost since I didn't have an emotional connection to our protagonists at the time. This was compensated with other scenes that provide otherwise lost insight to the film's theme, but I still wonder if a rearrangement of the story beats would have carried more weight.
If you haven't used your mandated single watch of Grave of the Fireflies yet, I think it's time. They say war never changes, and in an increasingly turbulent world it remains as true as ever.