The Studio Ghibli Movie Bound to Make you Cry: Grave of the Fireflies

 

Grave of the Fireflies is an animated film that takes place shortly after World War II. This film follows the lives of two children from the Japanese city of Kobe who lost their parents, their home, and their neighbors. Through and through Grave of Fireflies is sad, deflating, and doesn't offer viewers a lot of space to hope. 

Isao Takahata is the director of Grave of the Fireflies and co founder of animation studio, Studio Ghibli. I'm sure if you're reading this you're familiar with Studio Ghibli already, but just in case Studio Ghibli is a Japanese animation studio that has produced many widely popular animated films such as My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away, and Princes Mononoke. 

Grave of the Fireflies is set during World War II and is actually based on the true short story by Akiyuki Nosaka. Nosaka lived through the bombing of Kobe, he lost two sisters to malnutrition and his adopted father was also killed. Japan was heavily devastated by bombings during World War II and continuously dealt with both large and small scale bombings until their surrender in 1945 after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. 

The response to Grave of the Fireflies was a little lackluster. The film's budget was estimated tp be over $3 million USD and only made a little over $500,000 USD back in the box office. However, Grave of the Fireflies did win a Blue Ribbon award and two awards at the Chicago International Film Festival. Late film critic Roger Ebert called the film one of the greatest war films of all time. 

The main characters in the film are siblings Seita and Setsuko. Seita is a 14 year old boy that does everything in his power to watch over his 4 year old younger sister, Setsuko. Seita and Setsuko's aunt is shown taking the two siblings in after they lost their mother and their home. She originally seems okay with taking the two kids in, but later shows resentment at the kids taking up resources without contributing anything. 

The main themes displayed in Grave of the Fireflies include both the physical and mental destruction of war. We see the physical destruction through Seita's and Setsuko's home being destroyed and their mother essentially burning to death. We also see the mental distraction through Setsukoc crying every night after they relocate to their aunt's home and their aunt becoming incredibly resentful towards the kids. In that same vain we also see that there can be beauty even amongst destruction. Several times in the film we see beautiful lakes and green trees even amongst all the flames and destruction. 

Grave of the Fireflies is both a heartbreaking and complex animated film. It also differs from many of Studio Ghibli's usual childlike films. Grave of the Fireflies is a must watch both for Ghibli fans and even those unfamiliar with Ghibli films.