I Have Deep Love For The Cat.

I have deep love for the cat.

Wow, it's so delicious 😺😅

darling, will you saturate?

Grave of the Fireflies (1988)

Trilogy

Part 2 of Ghibli studio movies I watched recently.

2. Grave of the fireflies.

Movies about individuals suffering through war always make my spirit wrench. With its great animation and plot Grave of the Fireflies takes a journey which almost made me cry and gets so much worse when you find out that the author who based it on his own life wrote the book as an apology to his sister.

You know how it ends from the first scene, knowing from the first scene didn't make it less impactful the death of Setsuko just took my heart and stomped it but the struggle they live throughout the movie and the hope they develop for each small victory is devastating.

ಥ_ಥ

I've read that the movie is commonly seen as an anti-war film, but that both the director nor the author of the book on which it is based did not aim at that.

On the director's intent:

Director Takahata repeatedly denied that the film was an anti-war anime. In his own words, "[The film] is not at all an anti-war anime and contains absolutely no such message."

The message seems to be that Seita had his romanticized image of him and his sister vs the world which was unrealistic. He needed to see that caring for Setsuko and providing what was best for her meant spending time finding work and helping around his aunt's house, not spending all of his time with Setsuko and being her personal hero. But because he didn't do this he was being selfish by resigning himself in his boundless love for his sister and withdrawing from the world. When his sister dies from malnutrition it is because he refused to see that he couldn't provide her enough food even when he was reduced to stealing. It seems implied that if he'd returned to his aunt, apologized, and just started doing whatever work around the house or out of it he could find, they would have been taken care of and Setsuko would have survived.

But another way of seeing this is Seita is a 12-year-old boy who made a bad decision while in a situation that no 12-year-old boy should ever be in. He was placed in that crisis because of the war. He was trying to survive the way he knew how, and psychologically he must have been so traumatized.

While Grave of the Fireflies is punishing, it is not relentless. There are short, beautiful interludes in this film, serving to remind us that even in life’s most dire moments, we are still capable of experiencing joy and wonder. But these bursts are fleeting, and as the story heads towards its emotionally shattering conclusion, they only make what is to come even more unbearable.

Among the strongest statements that Grave of the Fireflies has to offer is that optimism is often a luxury. Life will have its way with us one way or another, whether we deserve it or not. What makes the film such an influential piece of work is the sense of foreboding that hangs over Seita and Setsuko at all times. The human spirit can be boundless, but it can also only take so much.

The firefly became a haunting symbol of the film as it represents both the deadly fire bombs that wrecked the children's city but as well as an icon of hope and perseverance.

This film will always be a reminder to the post-war generation about the atrocities of war even if it wasn't meant to. The innocence of Setsuko was crushed by the cruelty of war. I love this film with its carnage and small moments of beauty, which makes the carnage all the more heartbreaking and will always have a place in my heart.