I really, really hate it when people treat animated movies as simply children's entertainment, as if it could never aspire to be any more than just that. It's one of the main reasons I've tried to focus on animated movies for my blog, to appeal to an older audience. The reason I'm getting into this is that this particular movie, Grave of the Fireflies, made me cry. There are only two movies in the past year that have moved me to tears, the other one being Toy Story 3, both of which my friends are quick to dismiss as "just another kids movie". I'm sorry, but when people continue to spend money on poorly done remakes of popular films or silly "popcorn movies" it really makes me question just where this bias is coming from. In many ways, these silly movies are more cartoonish and childish than actual children's films!
Grave of the Fireflies is a deeply moving film, with vivid and realistic characters and poetic images, focusing on the tale of Seita and his little sister Setsuko. The setting is Japan as WWII is coming to a close, and Seita and Setsuko have to learn to survive after losing their mother in a firebombing and their father, a soldier, most likely dead as well. From there things only get worse for the siblings as they move from living with their increasingly cold aunt to a bomb shelter where they have to forage for food every day. All throughout, there is an encroaching sense of isolation as the world itself seems to be collapsing in on them.
This is not an easy film to watch. I was in a pretty good mood going into this film and I still don't think I was ready for it. It truly is worth watching though and I strongly recommend it to anyone who says animation is only for kids. Grave of the Fireflies isn't just a great animated movie, it's a great movie, period.
