Movie review: Grave of the Fireflies (1988)

• October 13, 2006
• James Skemp
• dvd / movie, review

Grave of the Fireflies is a fairly (read: very) depressing story. Supposedly, this film was named Best Animated Feature at a children's festival, yet I don't know that the intended audience is children. Nonetheless, even though it's depressing, I think it's a good film, showing the hardships some people (have) face(d).

Named Best Animated Feature at the 1994 Chicago International Children's Film Festival, this film proves that not all anime tales are pixie-dust fantasies or brutal sci-fi standoffs. Orphans Seita (voiced by Tsutomu Tatsumi) and Setsuko (Ayano Shiraishi) fight for survival in post-World War II Japan, but society is harsh. Soon, they come to the somber conclusion that they can neither escape the hardships of war nor find enough food to survive.

I gave the movie four stars (out of five) since I thought it had a good message, but I don't feel it would appeal to the largest audience possible. If the movie would have sugar-coated things more than it did, or made conditions even worse for the two, I would have given it a much lower rating.

After watching Ran last night, I'll be looking forward to watching either Blade Runner this weekend, or North by Northwest next week.

Rated: NR
1 hr 28 min
1988

Want to see what else I've watched through Netflix? Check out the list, and my attempt to track Netflix shipping for Madison WI.