Grave Of The Fireflies (DVD)

...With that single sentence begins Grave of the Fireflies, quite possibly the most beautiful film I have ever seen. Movies about human suffering during wars and poor circumstances of life have been made many times in the history of film, but animation is remarkably free of movies dealing head on with the hard-hitting realities of life without descending into a sense that it is just an animation or becoming a highly stylized fantasy. When Grave of the ...
...take ultra-seriously. In that respect Grave of the Fireflies stands in a unique position in Studio Ghibli's output in being the only film to present war in such a mature and true-to-life way.

Based on the semi-autobiographical novel by Nobuo Nosaka, Grave of the Fireflies details the survival story of a brother and sister, Seita and Setsuko, after their mother dies in an American firebombing raid on the town of Kobe in 1945, near the ... more

"September 21, 1945… that was the night I died."

With that single sentence begins Grave of the Fireflies, quite possibly the most beautiful film I have ever seen. Movies about human suffering during wars and poor circumstances of life have been made many times in the history of film, but animation is remarkably free of movies dealing head on with the hard-hitting realities of life without descending into a sense that it is just an animation or becoming a highly stylized fantasy. When Grave of the Fireflies was made in 1988, the world-famous Studio Ghibli was still in its infancy with only a few movies produced by the founding couple of Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata. In the 1980's anime was to many still representing either the comedy of Urusei Yatsura or the giant mechas of Macross and Robotech, while the productions of Ghibli were often bordering mostly on the sub-genre of fantasy or fantasy-like stories that flowed out of the characters' interactions rather than simply out of comedy and action. But still these films were mostly beautifully evocative fairytales that were heartwarming, but hardly something to take ultra-seriously. In that respect Grave of the Fireflies stands in a unique position in Studio Ghibli's output in being the only film to present war in such a mature and true-to-life way.

Based on the semi-autobiographical novel by Nobuo Nosaka, Grave of the Fireflies details the survival story of a brother and sister, Seita and Setsuko, after their mother dies in an American firebombing raid on the town of Kobe in 1945, near the concluding days of World War II. Thrust into a cold and uncaring world, Seita and Setsuko must survive the best they can with a life that offers little of the basics that people take for granted these days, like money and food (or the gumdrops seen throughout the movie). Fireflies is one of those movies that grabs you by the throat and just presents you with a story that is touchingly sad and realistically harrowing, something that belies its origins of being just an "animation." The film opens in the most effective way possible: from the end, with the death of Seita.

This opening scene is like poetry itself. As Seita quietly dies in a railway station among many other forlorn people, a janitor finds a rusted tin can from his body, goes to an open door and throws the can into the medow beyond. The cork on the can pops open as it lands, spilling some dust and small bones out, causing a swarm of fireflies to take into the air from the surrounding shrubbery. Amid the swarming lights, a little girl rises up from the bushes and notices the dead boy inside the building. She tries to rush to him, but is stopped by Seita's hand, who just appeared behind her. He picks up the can of gumdrops, which restores back to its former glory and the two walk away happily together as the beautiful music-box like tune plays in the background. Ah, it is so beautiful and strangely touching. From here on end the story unfolds as a kind of flashback as to how this outcome was reached.

This whole opening is so hugely affecting in its understated simplicity which is an aspect that will never let go. By giving out how the story ends, the viewer is instantly robbed of the false expectations of a happy outcome, and this greatly helps in adjusting one to simply follow how the story unravels to its heartbreaking conclusion. In very essence, I could tell you all that happens in the film, and it wouldn't make much of a difference to you when you saw it yourself. This is a film whose plot is not important. What is important is the interaction of Seita and Setsuko, and how they cope with their life: Seita trying to take care of his sister the best he can while trying to keep the clouds of sorrow and everyday difficulties unknown to her.

One of the most fascinating scenes is the initial firebombing sequence on Kobe in its grass-root depiction of what such an attack must have felt like. The director, Isao Takahata, tells in his interview that when he was a child, he actually experienced one of these bombings and thus inserted much of his own knowledge into the scene to make it authentic. Instead of the usual explosives and bombs, the firebombings were much more terrifying in their silent destruction. With Japanese towns mostly consisting of paper and wood houses, the firebombings were much more devastating than any explosives could ever have been. Consisting solely of hundreds of burning metal tubes, they initially seem quite harmless when they hit the ground, but soon the fires spread to an uncontrollable degree, literally burning entire towns out of existence. It is in this raid that Seita's mother is seriously injured as she is making her way to a bomb shelter and dies shortly afterwards in front of him. However, Seita does not want his sister to know this and therefore doesn't tell her, all the while trying to protect her from the harmful truth.

After this the two move to the residence of an aunt of theirs in a nearby town, but as it turns out, Seita's lazy attitude doesn't win any favours with his aunt. She begins to ration her food in giving more to those who go to work, and is basically just nasty towards Seita for his inactivity, which results in them trying to cope by their own means. This proves to be the biggest downfall of Seita. He is too proud to do what his aunt asks him to. When she cuts back on their food, he just raises the money from his mother's bank account and buys his own food. When she criticises him for doing nothing in return for her hospitality, he just leaves and moves away. And it is this stubborn pride that eventually proves his downfall, as well as affecting the life of his sister as things don't work quite the way he hopes. The biggest points the movie criticises are indeed pride (causing Seita's downfall), selfishness (Seita's refusal to work for the common good of others though he is more than capable; it's also an allegorical criticism of the youth of today), and war (the thing that causes so much suffering) of which it is interesting to note that while it is Americans who do the bombing, they are at their hardest only referred to as "the enemy" rather than an identifiable foe. This gives the film a grander sense of critique that no matter who is attacking who, innocent people always end up suffering regardless of nationality.

What I really like about this film is its deliberately slow pacing and attention to little, insignificant details. Oftentimes there is very little movement evident, with long stretches of still imagery of characters just watching quietly somewhere or at someone. Also the film is flooded with things that have very little bearing on the actual story, but which prove to be much more telling than the points that do take the story forward. Such instances include the point where the two have moved to an abandoned shelter and in the darkness of the night catch fireflies to illuminate their cave. The following morning Seita finds Setsuko carefully burying a pile of the dead flies that draws instant parallels to the similar mass burial their mother had earlier in the film (it is also the moment that Setsuko guesses their mother is dead). Or the dead man on the beach under a bamboo rug while bombers appear in the horizon. Or the many instances of Seita giving candy to Setsuko from the tin canister. Or near Setsuko's final moments when hunger starts to make her delusional and in her feeble state she offers her brother cakes made of mud…

But indeed, as I said, this movie's plot is not important, nor is anything else you can identify from standard filmmaking that goes from point A to point B. It is the little things of life that make this movie and provides its allure, and particularly as you already know how the movie will end there is no striving for an ultimate climax. It just moves forward one day at a time towards its inevitable resolution. There are many scenes (including the opening) where we see Seita and Setsuko reflected in a red hue (like standing in a darkroom when a red light is on) that differentiates the "reality" and the "memory" as the spirits of brother and sister watch over the lives they lead while alive. This in particularly brings an added sense of poignancy in the last scene before the end credits as the two of them sit on a park bench watching down at modern Japan with its brightly lit skyscrapers.

You know I wish I could somehow adequately describe how this movie made me feel, but I'm afraid words are truly inferior in this case. You could know everything that is going to happen in this movie, yet it would not make any difference whatsoever. I was warned by many directions that this movie is a real tearjerker, and was a little apprehensive about it. I don't like over-hyping and was determined to just see if it was just over-exaggeration (I'm not going to cry simply because everybody says it will make me cry). Well, I'm sorry to report that my attempt at stoicism was a failure. Throughout the film there were multiple moments where I could just feel tears coming to my eyes and my throat choking. The last ten minutes or so totally broke me down and tears were just flowing uncontrollably. If ever there was a movie that truly lives up to its hype, it is this one.

DVD DETAILS

The film has been released numerous times before since its premiere in 1988 (incidentally it was originally double-billed along with Miyazaki's My Neighbor Totoro in the theaters). The latest version features the film completely restored that greatly enhances the appearance of the film when compared to the original. The original feature doesn't hold that much in the way of extras, containing only a trailer (or so I would believe), but there is also a 2 Disc Special Edition that is of more interest than usual.

- Audio -

On the audio front, don't expect anything mindshattering. The stereo mix is crisp and decent with a few well-placed uses of directionality, while the dialogue is mostly kept in the front soundstage. The voice actors are superb. This is one of those films that I fully endorse everybody to watch using the Japanese language track rather than the English dub (even for people who say they rather listen to the dub so that they can better follow the story). While the English dub is decent (the actors properly imitating children), there is a massive sense of authenticity in the properly aged Japanese actors. Setsuko's voice actor Ayano Shiraishi in particular is phenomenal, particularly when you consider that she really was five years old when the movie was made. She is just touchingly real and unforced in her delivery that just calls for no messing about with different languages. The musical score of Michio Mamiya is perfect, sparse and lightly orchestrated (no brass) with a lot of plinging percussion and beautiful tunes throughout that is never overbearing or inappropriate. It adds another dimension that again tends to make me weep… Damn it!

- Video -

On a visual level, the remastering has really refreshed the movie. When compared to the original's wobbly picture and bland colours, all of these have been cleaned and corrected so the film looks as if it had just been made. Presented in a 1.78:1 Anamorphic Widescreen format, the style of the film is pretty simple throughout, but does hold a lot of detail that is never allowed to overstep the simple outline of the surroundings. The character designs are on par with Ghibli's usual style in being more rounded and real looking (depite having several more exaggerated features like largish eyes and widely opening mouths). The backgrounds are mostly comprised of watercolour like paintings and there is a lot of brown tones used throughout that add to the dreariness and desolation of the movie's more sorrowful scenes. All in all, there is nothing really you can fault on the way it looks; it really is that fantastic.

- Extras -

On the extras front, the 2 Disc Special Edition is more fulfilling that usual. On Disc 1 there is the option of seeing the entire film with alternative storyboards that again I think are good for the enthusiast, but really only hold a passing interest to a casual viewer. Disc 2 contains all the meat of the extra material. The opening "Creative Team Extras" contain an interview with director Isao Takahata, who gives out some details how the opportunity for the making of the movie came about, how this was a once in a lifetime opportunity to make since the film doesn't have a happy ending, and what the director was wanting to tell in the movie, among other things. It really is quite interesting listening. The biographys of Takahata and author Akiyuki Nosaka are of only small interest, but the following "Japanese Release Promo" is interesting in that it dates from the time the film was still new and has a number of little period details of interest.

The Production Extras contain all the technical stuff and trailers. The Bonus Storyboards show scenes in storyboard form that were cut from the script (which range from some quite nice little bits to some thankfully deleted ones). The DVNR Featurette contains a small look at the restoration process done to the film that also contains some original material comparisons with the restored version in a split screen that gives ample proof how much better the film looks. The art gallery contains a few promo pictures and sketches from the film and the two trailers (Japanese and U.S.) round out this section.

The final set of extras offers photographic comparison on how the scenes pictured in the film look today; a Historical Perspective with authors Theodore and Haruko Taya Cook talking about the political and militaristic sides of America's firebombing raids and Japan's involvement in the war; and finally there is a most interesting interview with critic Roger Ebert, who is absolutely enthralled with the movie, famously saying it is one of the "greatest war movies ever made." He also gives some quite interesting insights of his own as a film critic not particularly knowledgeable about anime as such, but as a long standing critic of all kinds of films for decades now offers some points not often noted by hardcore anime fans (such as pointing about the use of "pillow shots", meaning a completely irrelevant shot of, say, a telephone pole to separate scenes that anime is filled with). And a positive plus is that Ebert is one of the most known film critcs around, so it is good to have somebody of his stature endorsing Japanese anime with such enthusiasm for the mainstream audiences.

IN CONCLUSION

This is definitely one of those movies you don't take out often just for the pleasure of it. It is a film that is somehow reassuring to have among your DVDs, just to know it's there, but one you don't want to watch outside of some special occasion. I have rarely been as emotionally effected by any movie I have seen, and it tells a lot that it hasn't been easy writing this review either. And I don't mean that in a way that the actual writing was difficult, but that I was forced to remember the film again, which is enough to make me misty eyed all over again. Depressing it is. Emotionally devastating, yes. Essential to see: most definitely. Like Ebert says, this movie could not have worked well as a live action film due to the fact that you would always be conscious of the actors' in the film. What the animation affords is to cut past the visual side and the realism of war, to the real core of the story and the humanity it touches. It is a movie that will affect you every single time you see it. Ignore the hype; this is a film that most definitely deserves the often bandied about term "Masterpiece" better than many others.

CAST (Japanese / English)

Setsuko: Ayano Shiraishi / Rhoda Chrosite
Seita: Tsutomu Tatsumi / J. Robert Spencer
Aunt: Akemi Yamaguchi / Amy Jones
Mother: Yoshiko Shinohara / Veronica Taylor

Written and Directed by Isao Takahata
Character Designs and Animation Direction by Yoshifumi Kondo
Art Director: Nizo Yamamoto
Music Composed by Michio Mamiya
Based on the novel "Hotaru no Haka" by Nobuo Nosaka
Production Designer: Ryoichi Sato

© berlioz, 2006
 

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