Yar, you be here: Grave of the Fireflies (Collector's Edition) > Customer Reviews

Grave of the Fireflies (Collector's Edition) Customer Reviews (25 - 27 of 143 Reviews)

Different perspective
Grave of the Fireflies gives us an interesting view of WWII. It's not a movie about the armies of Japan, but rather the point of view of a sister and brother just trying to survive. Don't sit down and watch this if you're looking for a happy story - make sure you've got your tissues handy. This movie WILL stay with you though. You'll never forget it.

Beautiful, engrossing film
I bought this film without seeing in a theater because of the glowing reviews I had read on other sites. Grave of the Fireflies lived up to those reviews and is very moving. It was helpful to view the commentary after the first viewing to get additional perspective on some of the events and actions portrayed in the film. The shock, hurt and despair of the characters in several scenes is uniquely Japanese. For instance, this movie depicts one of the first firebombings of Japanese cities. Prior to this point in time, most bombings of Japan were highly inefficient, causing the citizens to become apathetic. This explains why the protagonist and his sister took their time to go join their mother at the shelter, and eventually got seperated.

A Great, Tragic Film
The first sentence in the movie is "September 21, 1945...that was the night I died." The voice belongs to 14-year-old Seita, and his spirit tells us what happened to him and his five-year-old sister, Setsuko, in the weeks before. This is one of the saddest films I've ever seen, but a great one. Elements of the plot are discussed, but we know what's going to happen with that first sentence.

Seita, his mother and sister live in Kobe, Japan. One day American bombers hit the city in a fire bomb raid. Their mother is terribly burned and dies shortly after in a crowded hospital. They haven't heard from their father, a naval officer serving on a cruiser, in a long time. We assume he is dead. Their home is destroyed and Seita takes his sister to his aunt and her family. Things don't work out. Food is short. The aunt becomes more abrupt and impatient with Seita when she realizes the children may be staying permanently. Seita takes his sister to a hill one evening to watch the thousands of fireflies, which delights Setsuko. Seita finally decides to take his sister and live by themselves in an abandoned bomb shelter dug into the side of a river cliff. What money he has proves useless as food is increasingly hard to find. Slowly the two children slip down into malnutrition and sickness. Seita is responsible for his sister and tries to keep her spirits up when she cries for her mother or tells him how hungry she is, but there is no one to take care of Seita. They suffer rashes. Seita tries to comb the lice from Setsuko's hair. Setsuko begins to suffer from diarrhea. Without family, no one wants them. One night he catches fireflies in a can and releases them in the cave for Setsuko. The next morning he finds his sister digging a grave for the fireflies, who have all died. "Why must fireflies die so young," but there's no answer to the question. Soon after, Setsuko dies. Seita cremates his sister and carries her ashes in a box with him. And on September 21, in the Kobe railway station, surrounded by other lost, homeless people, Seita dies.

This is undoubtedly one of he great anti-war movies. There is also a moral lesson, which director Isao Takahata points out, in hubris. Seita makes a decision which is disastrous for himself and his sister, but it is a decision of a 14-year-old who has had to assume responsibilities far beyond what he should. The relationship between the two children, their love for each other, Setsuko's trust in him and Seita's determination to care for her is a heartbreaker.

The film is stunningly drawn, from nightmarish scenes of incendiary bomb attacks on wooden neighborhoods to achingly beautiful scenes of seashores, valleys and rain storms. Takahata and his animators have given Seita and Setsuko so much character and individuality that we see them as children, not animated subjects.

Film critic Roger Ebert, in a commentary on the film, says that the first time he saw the movie he nearly cried. So did I. This is a sad, powerful film. The two disc DVD features a stunning transfer and several extras. Among them are the Ebert interview, an interview with the director and an historical overview of the period.

Previous Page

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48

Next Page