| No... |
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| written by TaoG |
December 18, 2006 - 9:47 PM PST |
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3 out of 5 members found this review helpful
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| When you look at the bombing of an already defeated Japan, juxtaposed with the humanity contained in this beautiful and heart stopping animation, I feel like we (American's, and maybe all humanity) lost our collective soul when we opened the gates of hell to "test" nuclear arms on civilians. (Though our demonization and prison camp detainment of Japanese Americans may have already been an indication of how terribly our America's hysterical racism would manifest) This movie is intensely heart-rending and haunting , penetrating straight to an artistry that eclipses most movies. It will stay with you and help you summon an outrage that should be heard around the world when we have the idiocy threaten to use Nuclear Weapons on Iran. |
| The movie reflects Japan's national psyche |
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| written by tungwaiyip |
July 28, 2006 - 9:36 PM PDT |
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4 out of 11 members found this review helpful
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This movie reflects Japan's national psyche that Japanese are the victim rather than the aggressor of the war. There isn't any consciousness of the Japanese military agression and brutality that led to this end. I don't agree this is an anti-war movie. Their navy father is firmly believe be a hero. If there is anything to regret about it is that they did't win.
I don't mean to be hard on a story about children's tragedy. The problem is not what it has said, it is what it hasn't said. The larger context is not presented, nor is it implied in any way.
Put it another way, there cannot be a humanist treatment on the WWII if the holocaust is swept off the consciousness.
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| Watch it and weep for mankind |
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| written by Sujata |
May 21, 2006 - 3:03 PM PDT |
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5 out of 6 members found this review helpful
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| This is not just one of the greatest animation movies ever made, it is one of the greatest movies period. The characters will live on in your thoughts a long time after they've faded from your screen. I don't want to bury the numerous delights of this movie in words, suffice it to say that it will make you laugh, make you cry and most of all, make you think. What more could one ask for? |
| Heartrendering, moving masterpiece from Isao Takahata, and a triumph for animation. |
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| written by JTurner1 |
September 3, 2005 - 9:34 AM PDT |
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5 out of 5 members found this review helpful
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Truly one of Studio Ghibli's greatest crowning achievements, Grave of the Fireflies is a brilliant masterpiece fully deserving of a place in any of the best movies ever made. Not just an astonishingly great (and, at the risk of coming off as cliché, perfect) work of art, this is a moving, thought-provoking, and ultimately heartbreaking tale about the loss of innocence and the tragedies of war.
Based on an autobiography by Akiyuki Nosaka, the film, set during the bombing of Japan in --of all times-- World War II, centers on Seita, a loving, headstrong Navy soldier's son and his innocent little sister, Setsuko. Their fatal struggle for survival begins right at the start, when both are bombed out of house and home by American B-29s. Mom is seriously wounded and found wrapped in bandages at a hospital, where she dies shortly after. The children move to Nishinomiya to stay with their aunt. Auntie, a cold, bitter, self-serving woman, has no patience with Seita or Setsuko, especially when they would rather chase after fireflies at moonlight, play by the beach, or lounge around the house instead of helping out. After butting heads with Auntie long enough, the children decide to run away, setting up home in an abandoned cave by the lake. Both try by all means to live off of vegetables or whatever food they can afford to trade and/or steal, to no avail....
The outcome of the story is actually showcased at the opening of the movie, where we see a ghostly specter of Seita watching a more malnourished version of himself die a painful, lonely death at a train station. Indeed, as we see how these events came to pass, we find ourselves rooting for Seita and Setsuko to find a way to stay alive, but alas, it is not to be, given Seita's stubborn pride. The overall tone of the movie is of a very tragic nature--even such lighthearted moments as the aforementioned sequences involving Seita and Setsuko playing around the house or gathering fireflies as lights for their cave are all tainted with a touch of sadness, for we know that these brief scenes of happiness will not last.
Who is to blame for the plight of these children? The movie never addresses this question to the audience, nor does it really care to. It would be easy for director Isao Takahata to make this an anti-American movie, but he does better than that. Instead, he aptly conveys that war can spell serious--and deadly--consequences for victims. He also eschews casting any character as a hero or villain, and instead makes this a very human story, with no clear-cut "good" or "bad" characters. The aunt, for example, is not evil; she is merely an angry, desperate woman who is only struggling to survive just as much as Seita and Setsuko are. Atrocious as her treatment of the children is, we somehow never see her as a true baddie, but a very flawed, multi-faceted human being.
Normally one would think of this kind of story as suitable for live-action, but Grave of the Fireflies proves that it can be told through the art of animation as well. This is no mindless showcase of gorgeous visuals--although the artistic merits of the movie are, as with Ghibli productions, sumptuous and at times breathtaking--but a display of real characters struggling with very tangible emotions. And the most amazing accomplishment about this movie is how much we grow to care for Seita and Setsuko--their inseparable bond of love and companionship is the heart and soul behind the movie.
There are long stretches of silence on the soundtrack, with music used very sparingly, yet the movie is all the more powerful for it. The most effective moment is where we hear a scratchy rendition of "Home, Sweet Home" over a montage of Setsuko playing by the shelter. It's a simplistic, sweet, yet very saddening moment that not only works in the context of the movie, but on its own as well.
While Disney has released most of Studio Ghibli's other works in the United States, Grave of the Fireflies is currently available as a 2-Disk Collector's Set from New York based Anime publisher Central Park Media. Presented in an all-new anamorphic transfer, the video quality was apparently remastered, with very pleasing results. Where this set excels, though, is in the amount of extras. In addition to documentaries about the bombing of Japan and the production, we get interviews with Isao Takahata, Akiyuki Nosaka, and even longtime film critic Roger Ebert. Even if you don't read critical reviews, you should check out what he has to say about Grave of the Fireflies. His words may surprise you.
I don't normally say this in my reviews, but I would definitely recommend watching this movie in its native language of Japanese for a truly powerful and memorable experience. That's not to imply, however, that the English dub is inferior; on the contrary. It is, in fact, surprisingly good, with an effective lead in J. Robert Spencer and noteworthy cameo appearances by Anime voiceover actors Veronica Taylor, Crispin Freeman, and Dan Green. Rhoda Chrosite's Setsuko is the one voice that doesn't fare so well; she sounds more like an adult pretending to be a young girl, and comes across as strained during most scenes (save for when she is sick from diarrhea). Still, for those who can't read subtitles, the dub is more than adequate (although not as high-profile as others that I've heard).
Even in a genre as multi-faceted as Japanese Anime, there are few films that literally everyone really must see. Grave of the Fireflies is one such movie. |
| Painful, but beautiful |
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| written by autarch |
October 23, 2003 - 11:46 AM PDT |
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6 out of 8 members found this review helpful
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This is one of the most painful to watch movies I've ever sat through, because it is so incredibly heart-rending. I think I spent a good half of the film in tears.
Nonetheless, I'd highly recommend it. It is a very well drawn film, with a very strong story and the consequences of war for two young children. But grab a box of tissues first, because only someone with a dead heart can make it through dry-eyed. |
| Not a Fairy Tale |
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| written by hamano |
September 14, 2003 - 2:12 AM PDT |
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19 out of 21 members found this review helpful
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If you're looking at this page, and haven't clicked the "RENT" button yet, you're probably wondering if you should subject yourself to 90 minutes of children who starve to death. Yes, those apple-cheeked kids shown on the DVD cover die, and I don't think that's a SPOILER since one of the kids dies right at the beginning of the film, and the rest is an extended flashback. In fact, I think it's misleading and wrong to gloss over this fact in a misguided effort to try to get people to see this film (like the synopsis offered above). Don't rent this film if you want to see the kids triumph over adversity. This is a masterpiece that deserves to be appreciated the way Hamlet and Death of a Salesman are. Grave of the Fireflies is the tragic tale of one boy's fatal human frailty in the face of a terrible crisis (the 4 year-old sister really had no control over what happens). It's hard to believe that this film was released by Studio Ghibli as a double feature with My Neighbor Totoro which is as relentlessly whimsical and upbeat as this film is sad. I think you should rent this film. You should watch it, then, if you have kids, you should watch it again with your kids and be prepared to answer their questions. The things they show in this "cartoon" are things that really happened, things that real people saw. My own parents were 10 years old when WW2 ended. They lived through the same kinds of things, and fortunately for me, they survived.
Grave of the Fireflies has been called a "great film about the tragedy of war" and "a story of survival" but it's also much more than that. The reason it affects the viewer so deeply is because the story works as a classic tragedy specific to the character of Seita. If you watch the film with that in the back of your mind, I think you'll see where the true evil of war lurks. I'd like to get into that more, but not in this review (I'll post a companion discussion topic in the Anime forums).
PS: For the first time Studio Ghibli decided to use real children to do the voices of Seita and Setsuko, with excellent results.
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| why kids cry when they're left at home |
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| written by DPOWERS |
October 16, 2002 - 8:48 AM PDT |
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17 out of 18 members found this review helpful
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grave of the fireflies so thoroughly recreates the pain of abandonment, even when i recommend it to people, i refuse to see it with them.
this movie is a cascade of promises rescinded or forgotten or blocked. one true thing after another stops being dependable, until nothing is left. society collapses at the feet of two kids and they run away. it doesn't even present this as a choice: they are terrified. they hide.
it's interesting, also, thinking of godard's "anti-war-movie" ethics, in les carabiniers, that grave of the fireflies owes some anti-propaganda strategies to godard. but it also successfully does what godard said could not be done -- the pain of the story overpowers the pleasure of watching the movie.
don't miss this.
ps: watch it in subtitled japanese. the japanese language soundtrack is more powerful than the english. |
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