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| Image taken from asiancinematic.com |
The film of the week was Grave of the Fireflies by Isao Takahata, which is based on the children’s story of the same name by Akiyuki Nosaka. I must say this was truly a sad film. I had a few tears toward the end, but I felt rather depressed throughout the entire progression of the film. I probably would have cried a lot if it wasn’t revealed beforehand they both die anyway, but it was shown at the very beginning of the film to show this movie does not end happily. This also indicates that the entire movie happened as flashbacks, yet the way the film was structured does leave one a little confused if they do not pay close attention to the different ways the film works. The actual encounters, the memories, and the spirit world are all parts of this film and it is usually indicated with certain filters. The memories were the happiest ones, while the actual encounters had me thinking humanity can be so cruel at times.
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| Image taken from danielthomas.org |
The movie does make you think more about what really happened during times of war, how civilians needed to find ways just to survive. It is extremely evident that the two children, Seito and Setsuko, did all they could to survive on their own despite the shortages in Japan at the time. It is tough for orphans to do such a thing. I notice many people talk about how Seito had to grow up so much at the age of 14, but Setsuko also had to do some growing up of her own, despite being only 4 years old. While Seito was away she tried teaching herself how to do things like sewing and cleaning. Of course she had to cope with the loss of her mother. So I would say both children had to take on so many responsibilities just to live. Seito of course did most of the work, but of course his sister needs the most help between the two. She can only do so much at her age. It is touching to see how well these two get along and work together in such harsh times. It as if their love for each other is what keeps them going. Being orphans alone didn’t give them reason to quit because they still had each other. No I’m not saying Setsuko gave up, malnutrition is a serious issue and young children (along with elders) are usually the first to go when that situation occurs. So I believe she tried all she could, and her brother did all he could to help her. Unfortunately he was just too late. I’m pretty sure he spent majority of his money to give her a proper burial because he probably gave up the will to go on after she passed. He could’ve saved the money to buy himself some food to survive, but he cared more about his sister than himself, even after she died.
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| Image taken from rachelleandcinema.blogspot.com |
The film does teach a lesson about mono no aware as well as the fact that siblings should appreciate each other because you never know when they’ll be gone. It made me think more about my relationship with my younger brother. We hardly fight nowadays, but we can talk to each other about almost anything and we help each other out. We were there for each other when we had to experience something similar to Seito and Setsuko when they were living with their aunt. Not exactly the same because we still had our parents, but we were still wronged nonetheless after all we had to go through with Hurricane Katrina.
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| image taken from pisceschick.files.wordpress.com |
I added this last picture because I found it interesting how they have the fruit drops cans in real life too!
