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Grave of the Fireflies has a strong seat next to the movies I feel are amazing in all aspects. This film demonstrated the incredible perils that the Japanese endured while we mindlessly bombed them over and over. It showed the unparalleled bond between a teenage boy and his sister during the hell of WWII. There was many realistic and powerful scenes throughout the film, one realistic one being that after the passing of their (Seita and Setsuko’s) mother. They had no where to go since their father was at war so they ventured to their aunt who accepted them but grew to despise them once their contributions were drained. The aunt stopped feeding them over time seeing as they were just eating and not working at all to help out. She also showed intense resentment throughout their living there, the mother would despise any type of fun they would have. It makes sense that she would not like the company of Seita and Setsuko but seeing as they had lost their mother and had no one else left, she should have just accepted them and treated them as her child. Unfortunately, family ties are not as strong in Japanese culture so they were quickly shunned for being present in the aunt’s household. This movie shows the harsh truth and the struggles that each and every person has to go through.
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Many movies try to tie in a happy ending and it usually features some incredibly fake or fairy tale-like ending. To the viewers’ surprise (mostly American viewers who have the happy endings), this movie did not have the fairy tale ending. It was seen in the very beginning that Seita had died out in a subway. It was quite depressing and powerful, the scene depicted Seita as run-down, starved, and emotionless. The one thing he had lived for had dissipated. He was left with nothing, no family, and no money. Another powerful scene was after the death of Setsuko, Seita cremated her but sat there with the flame until the very end, not moving an inch. Seeing that scene and remembering all the hardships he had gone through to keep her alive really hit the heart hard. Probably one of the most touching scenes was the scene in which Seita withdrew the last of the money in the bank to buy some quality food for Setsuko. He knew that after feasting on all that delicious and fresh food, they would be completely broke and left to starve to death or struggle endlessly to survive but he took out and spent all the money anyways to have the temporary happiness and revitalized Setsuko. After coming back with a knapsack full of food, Setsuko was bedridden and completely starved. She was at the end of her rope chewing on a marble in hope that it was food. As Seita feeds her one small piece of watermelon, her dead-like expression changed for a brief moment only to say, thank you, as her last words.
Anyways, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie and the animation was excellent.
Although it is a tearjerker for most, it was truthful in the hardships of what the Japanese endured. I highly recommend it to anyone.
I really enjoyed reading your blog on the movie Grave of the Fireflies. The mother’s death was a powerful and depressing scene. The fact that a young boy had to see his own mother in that condition is heart breaking. The way they treated the dead was horrible, just pilling the bodies together and burning them. Something else that got to me was the time period; WWII. We were the ones causing all that death and destruction. The aunt really was a b*tch to the children towards. While I agree that the scene where Setusko buys the food for his sister was touching I feel that it could have been avoided if he would have bought the food earlier. If he would have done that things might have been better and maybe both of them would have lived a little longer. I’m fine with the movie not having a happy ending, but it might have had a better one.
ReplyDelete-Raquel Derganz Baker
p.s. I liked the pictures you added.