Review: Grave of the Fireflies Cast (Voice): Tsutomu Tatsumi Ayano Shiraishi Directed by: Isao Takahata Grave of the Fireflies, a tremendous Japanese anti-war movie, is able to show us what we are not used to look at: the consequences war brings to the population, to families, who have to live and die with it – but told without any hate or anger; it is told in notions of innocent sacrifice. The odyssey of the protagonist, 14-year- old Seita, starts with the words “On the 21st of September 1945, I died”. Seita’s soul tells us his story by using a cutback and it opens this book on the last page. Seita’s young, almost rotten but still breathing body is dying while lying in a railway station where several war orphans find shelter, his only property left is a little tin, carelessly thrown away by a passing worker. This tin is the coupling between now and then. We come to know the Japanese teenager Seita, his mother and his four-year- old sister Setsuko during hard US-bombings, short time before Japan capitulates and the war is over. The family lives in Kobe, or what is left of it. Seita’s father is absent because of being a soldier of the Japanese army, his mother suffers from a weak heart. She leaves her two children to find shelter during an air-raid warning, thinking that they will see each other again there. Her hope will be belied, she dies in the bombing attack. Seita sees her one last time, before she is burned together with other victims in a common grave. The brave boy does not tell Setsuko about her mother’s death. Because they also lost their house, the two children move to a distant relative aunt, who lives with her daughter and a subtenant. She does not provide a loving home or consoling atmosphere after experiencing such a tragedy. She reproaches that Seita doesn’t support his country in a war that caused so much loss. Seita prefers to care for Setsuko, anyhow both feel that they now mean everything for each other. After their aunt let them know that the children are unwelcome, now that she profited from their property, Seita and Setsuko move to a cave at a hamlet they often liked to hide in. In the beginning of their new independence everything is going fine. They enjoy their short lasting happiness, the freedom and stillness. They are not scared of the war, it seems quite far away, besides the noise the US- jets produce while attacking the distant cities. Through all this time, the fireflies are their only friends: they light up the cave at night as they also light up their lives a little, trying to forget their sorrow. But the burden of responsibility is hard for Seita, he is not able to provide enough food for his little sister. In war times, fruit and meat are rare, he does not work and he has no relationship to grown up people. Setsuko becomes ill, she suffers from under nutrition and diarrhoea. Seita attempts everything to help her, but his possibilities lack. In addition, Seita comes to know about Japan’s capitulation and his father’s death. Now, as full orphans, he becomes more and more aware about their desperation and hopelessness of their merciless situation. Setsuko is getting worse and finally she starves in their small cave at the hamlet. Seita finds her after returning from scrounging some food for her. He spends some time next to the dead body of his sister in the cave while a storm is going on outside, as if he does not want to accept her death, that he is now completely alone. The following day, he cares for her funeral burning. On this point the cutback is finding its end, Seita’s way of the cross is told, there is nothing more left to say. We find him where we met him at the beginning: at the railway station, dying surrounded by his own excrements, carelessly looked at by the passengers, deceived by fate, but without anger. His only thoughts circulate around the question which day is today and still living Seita cannot answer this question. Seita’s soul, after trespassing the threshold, is able to answer it: the 21st of September 1945. Analysis: The title Grave of the Fireflies is an allusion to a very touching scene of the movie: in front of their cave in the landscape little Setsuko buries some of the luminous flying beetles that always accompany the both. Seita asks her what she is doing there and Setsuko answers that she knows what happened to their mother: that she died and is in a grave now. Their aunt has told her about her mother’s death, not caring about the young girls’ feelings. At that point Seita cries for the first time, the tears shoot out of his eyes, he cannot hide his fragility and his burden anymore. This scene is symptomatic for movie: the tragedy of the children’s story is presented by switches between naïve and beautiful impressions and hard and sad, sometimes horrible and repulsive moments: In one second, we experience a sweet, magic picture of fireflies in the night surrounding the children while running through juicy and fruitful fields, and in another scene we see maggots falling out of the dead body of a burned war victim lying in the sand. Beauty and horror melt together. Don’t led you mislead by thinking that an animated cartoon is not able to transport serious feelings or really hard stuff - the effect director Isao Takahata provokes through the sometimes gruesome, sad and sometimes beautiful scenes is depression. The movie touches the viewer’s inner soul and heart, not by showing much blood or people getting teared into pieces by bombs, which is something, a Hollywood anti-war movie may show. Grave of the Fireflies shows the consequences of war. And despite of the age of the movie (it was made in 1988) it is still a masterpiece of animated cartoon. The pictures may not be the latest fashion in the genre, but it does not lose in comparison with today’s Japanese movies. Director Isao Takahata is a pioneer of animated cartoon. His first movie was created in 1968, he worked at Toei Animation, TMS Studios and Nippon Animation; and everybody knows his famous TV- series Heidi, the characters of it remind on the figures in the movie. In 1984 he founds the legendary Studio Ghibli, in which also Grave of the Fireflies was made. Just some words about he author of Grave of the Fireflies: Akiyuki Nosaka. The 1967 written book the movie is based on is semi-autobiographic. Nosakas mother died shortly after his birth, he grew up with another family, but US- bombings killed his adopted mother in 1945. There we see the similarities to Grave of the Fireflies. Like Seita, Nosaka was now responsible for his younger sister’s life. She also died because of under nutrition. From now on he stole to survive, but soon he was arrested and brought to a community home. After some time, his father found him and took him to Tokyo. Some might say that Grave of the Fireflies is an apologize to Nosaka’s sister, who starved under his supervision; it also might be a therapy. What it is for sure: a message against war, not on a philosophical or political level, but based on personal experience and so it is much more sincere, touching and sad. That is why it is recommendable for people, who actually do not love animated cartoons. This movie was not made for children. It is hard to refrain from the message the story transports, almost impossible to shake it off. But the movie has something important to say, so I can only recommend it, just if you are ready for a down voyage of mood. Special Items: In opposition to the English version, the German DVD edition is not distinguished of very high picture quality. And there are no special features on the DVD, no interviews or anything else. But what we can find here is a book edition of Akiyuki Nosakas Grave of the Fireflies. It is a perfect supplementation to the movie, because it describes a background to Seita’s and Satsuko’s odyssey to death, it contains Seita’s thoughts that are missed in the movie. The collector box of Grave of the Fireflies also gives along two collector cards showing scenes of the film, as well as an art book with information about the director, the author and the studio Ghibli. Review by Caecilia Smekal

 

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