Isao Takahata: Grave of the Fireflies
“September 21, 1945... that was the night I died.”
Isao Takahata again. For those not keeping up, he’s a director who works for Studio Ghibli, Japan's foremost animation studio. It's often compared to Disney (mainly by Disney, who bought Western distribution rights to their films a few years ago), but the comparison doesn't really hold water outside of them both making animated features. Grave of Fireflies, a film portraying how normal people try to continue to live during the Second World War, shows these stark differences.
The quotation above is taken from the opening of the film, which shows main character Seita dying of starvation in a public place and his ghost appearing nearby, reunited with the ghost of his little sister, Setsuko. They then accompany the viewer through the events that led them to that point. Their father is a high-ranking military official, their mother is killed in an air raid and so they’re shipped off to live at their aunt's house, who treats them like shit, so they leave and set up home an in abandoned house by the river. Not living within a community, they do not receive rations and it isn’t long before they’re driven to stealing in order to eat. Soon after, Setsuko falls victim to her hunger, and Seita, realising that he has lost his entire family, gives up hope.
I can’t think of too many Disney films which open with the main character’s death, but here it works incredibly well, setting the tone for the entire film. Rather than give the impression that the brother and sister duo are a pair of plucky underdogs who overcome seemingly insurmountable adversity, it tells us immediately that the story does not have an Americanised, rags-to-riches happy ending. This is not a film about the wonderful stoicism of the human spirit; it is a film about the hard and tragic realities of war.
Another very non-Disney image is the mother after the bombing and the removal of her body once she passes away. Primarily, it is burnt and bloody with limbs missing, and riddled with maggots when it is taken away, presumably to be thrown in a mass grave. The extremely graphic representation of her injuries is decidedly not PG-13 material, but again this is and unblinking look at the repercussions of war which does not patronise the viewer. The lack of a proper funeral for the mother is paralleled strongly with Setsuko’s cremation later in the film, demonstrating that while they starve because they live outside of a community, the freedom it allows them gives them back the right to bury and mourn their dead.
Finally, there is no good guy/bad guy dynamic in the film. While Disney would no doubt portray the sides as black and white (complete with camp, fetishist Nazis in leather gloves, probably anthropomorphised foxes or snakes), here there are only people and consequences. The Allies are never given a human face, certainly, only ever appearing in the form of the planes that drop the bombs, but neither are they vilified through dialogue or any other means. They, and the consequences of their presence, are simply presented as facts in these peoples’ lives. Similarly, Seita is not portrayed as good and honourable, scavenging from houses during air raids and stealing from farmers’ fields as a way to survive. The result is a character who is more a person than a caricature or stereotype, and the film, despite being animated, is much more realistic for it.
While the film is certainly not cheerful viewing, it is not all sullen. The scenes which develop Seita and Setsuko’s relationship are very touching and their early life living down by the river has an idyllic and innocent air to it, as the frolic and play in the countryside. The deeper emotional subtext of the film, with an overwhelmed Seita unable to mourn his mother properly and Setsuko being able to in a more naïve, innocent manner also provides an emotional core to the film. It is, though, an unflinching and an emotionally draining portrayal of what the war did to our apparent 'enemies'. And for that reason alone, it is more than worthy of your time.
Isao Takahata again. For those not keeping up, he’s a director who works for Studio Ghibli, Japan's foremost animation studio. It's often compared to Disney (mainly by Disney, who bought Western distribution rights to their films a few years ago), but the comparison doesn't really hold water outside of them both making animated features. Grave of Fireflies, a film portraying how normal people try to continue to live during the Second World War, shows these stark differences.
The quotation above is taken from the opening of the film, which shows main character Seita dying of starvation in a public place and his ghost appearing nearby, reunited with the ghost of his little sister, Setsuko. They then accompany the viewer through the events that led them to that point. Their father is a high-ranking military official, their mother is killed in an air raid and so they’re shipped off to live at their aunt's house, who treats them like shit, so they leave and set up home an in abandoned house by the river. Not living within a community, they do not receive rations and it isn’t long before they’re driven to stealing in order to eat. Soon after, Setsuko falls victim to her hunger, and Seita, realising that he has lost his entire family, gives up hope.
I can’t think of too many Disney films which open with the main character’s death, but here it works incredibly well, setting the tone for the entire film. Rather than give the impression that the brother and sister duo are a pair of plucky underdogs who overcome seemingly insurmountable adversity, it tells us immediately that the story does not have an Americanised, rags-to-riches happy ending. This is not a film about the wonderful stoicism of the human spirit; it is a film about the hard and tragic realities of war.
Another very non-Disney image is the mother after the bombing and the removal of her body once she passes away. Primarily, it is burnt and bloody with limbs missing, and riddled with maggots when it is taken away, presumably to be thrown in a mass grave. The extremely graphic representation of her injuries is decidedly not PG-13 material, but again this is and unblinking look at the repercussions of war which does not patronise the viewer. The lack of a proper funeral for the mother is paralleled strongly with Setsuko’s cremation later in the film, demonstrating that while they starve because they live outside of a community, the freedom it allows them gives them back the right to bury and mourn their dead.
Finally, there is no good guy/bad guy dynamic in the film. While Disney would no doubt portray the sides as black and white (complete with camp, fetishist Nazis in leather gloves, probably anthropomorphised foxes or snakes), here there are only people and consequences. The Allies are never given a human face, certainly, only ever appearing in the form of the planes that drop the bombs, but neither are they vilified through dialogue or any other means. They, and the consequences of their presence, are simply presented as facts in these peoples’ lives. Similarly, Seita is not portrayed as good and honourable, scavenging from houses during air raids and stealing from farmers’ fields as a way to survive. The result is a character who is more a person than a caricature or stereotype, and the film, despite being animated, is much more realistic for it.
While the film is certainly not cheerful viewing, it is not all sullen. The scenes which develop Seita and Setsuko’s relationship are very touching and their early life living down by the river has an idyllic and innocent air to it, as the frolic and play in the countryside. The deeper emotional subtext of the film, with an overwhelmed Seita unable to mourn his mother properly and Setsuko being able to in a more naïve, innocent manner also provides an emotional core to the film. It is, though, an unflinching and an emotionally draining portrayal of what the war did to our apparent 'enemies'. And for that reason alone, it is more than worthy of your time.
posted by Ryan Stephens at 9:25 AM
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