During the March of 1945, the city of Kobe was mercilessly bombed by B-29 which led to it’s near complete destruction and destruction of several homes, one of them being Seita, and Setsuko who are brother and sisters to a father who served in the Japanese Navy alongside their mother. Post this tragedy, the siblings were forced to be relocated by their aunt, who perceived them and their presence as troubling and burdensome. Moving on, Seita along with Setsuko is told to live in an abandoned bomb shelter by their aunt who has reached boiling point, accusing the children of being leeches. The bomb shelter fails to provide them any protection against the weather but they bolster themselves with light from the fireflies spotting a nearby swamp. As time progressed Setsuko contracted a disease and Seita strived for ways to save her but there was literally nothing Seita could do. However, what truly mattered was the fact that there would always be cruelty residing in this world.
According to the film, it’s gonna be an abysmal heart wrenching story. This was made clear when the protagonist died and then reunited with his younger sister’s spirit. If one is to take a look into other motion pictures, they will find that Setsuko’s death is a ploy, but this film handles it with respect, placing it where it needs to be. Isao Takahata modifies the story by cutting straight into the anticipated death of the children’s mother. There shall not be any feigning of emotions through the end. The only thing that needs to be kept in mind is how does the movie end and why does it start at the position it does.
Takahata is Ghibli Studios co-founder and is an artist who does not receive the attention that his colleague Hayao Miyazaki does. Why it all makes sense is that, Ghibli’s output was mostly driven by the projects that Miyazaki took on. Takahata was the director of Only Yesterday, Pom Poko, My Neighbors the Yamadas and The Tale Of The Princess Kaguya. If you have watched any of these movies, particularly the last two, you will be able to tell that the director’s style and tone of filmmaking is different from Miyazaki’s. Among filmmakers he has singled out French New Wave directors, particularly Jean-Luc Goddard, among his greatest influences.
Notable French animator Paul Grimault benefited greatly from the Japanese director as he was able to produce short animated films during the 1940s to the 1980s that had complicated narratives. If you were to view a movie by either Takahata or Miyazaki, its clear they have their own distinct styles from one another, to the point where it makes sense for him to have created Grave as well instead of his renowned counterpart.
When hearing the title “Grave of the Fireflies”, one would think it is anti war without a doubt, yet Takahata makes it clear that he never meant for that picture to convey such an idea as it focuses only on the image of the suffering siblings who have even been removed from society giving it a more sympathetic prompt most likely for the teenagers at the time. The title itself gives it a sense that it is detached from the war and only had it as a backdrop, which is true as it does not involve much detail, Takahata himself is known to have been an anti-war supporter yet did go to give critiques to Barefoot Gen. All he believed was that there was no point in depicting extreme suffering within art as it wouldn’t stop aggressive behavior from any government as during his time Japanese values were still stuck held within fascism.
According to Takahata, the intent behind portraying the characters as dead in the beginning was to ‘save the audience from getting too emotionally distressed’, and he seems to have a hard time concealing his incredulity at Takahata’s statement. “I make every effort to reveal events at the beginning so as to reduce the pain of the audience.” It baffles me that he considers Seita’s avoidance of society as the greatest blunder of the entire film. It ultimately brings to conclusion what Setsuko and the boy suffer from. It is deeply human to want to get away when the community one lived in has become so filled with malice and hatred.
But, as Takahata observes, this kind of detachment does not make any effort some of the individuals who might have taken offense to the point of being exclusionary. Where it leads, instead, is tragedy. No one who was so brutal and cruel to the children’s parents ever changed their ways after the children passed away. May be if Seita did resist and stormed out to demand some self-respect, they might have grasped something. This is the kind of feeling the director tried to instill in his audience, especially the youth, watching his movie then take that anger and use it to change the world.
Seita’s excessive patriotism is what ultimately causes the death of his sister, though the film is vague about whether or not he realizes this. Sensitive Issues is a teenage drama so perhaps he is not at such a stage of thinking. But the viewer should digest this.
How does this contribute to our other movies focusing on the atomic bombing of Japan? It is one of the factors that enable us to comprehend why the attacks were so destructive: the level of social integration in Japan was wholly insufficient. They lost the war for many of the same reasons the Confederacy lost in the U. S. Civil War. When you dont have the requisite attachments to get through destruction everything becomes self. In this manner, the Self is subordinated to the greater Whole, and thus, all are catered for. It is not the Japanese people’s blame for their being bombed with such a rep ingredient and totally unacceptable weapon. I believe, however, that Takahata would admit that it was the Japanese people’s blame that there was no community where Japanese people could heal and deal with trauma.
It makes me ponder on the United States for now their military expenditure and geographical isolation have given a cushion to them. Its highly likely that many generations will come after this trend.
But the U.S. will collapse. The institutions embedded with fascism will still hold close and that makes me wonder what society will look like when it finally does: mass death will be the only end. It would be every man for himself.
We have yet to accept our crime of genocide against the Indigenous population or the Jim Crow oppressive laws that enslaved Black people. We see this in how we demonized refugees who fled to the imperial region from violence but we also see it in the manner we oppress people with disabilities. We see the culmination of it in ignoring the routine violence inflicted on Palestinians by Israel. And a generation can only be prepared to fully adopt humanity after having to witness the murder of their loved ones, as shown in this movie.
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