Tag: War Movies

Grave of the Fireflies 9/10

Nick SheedyLeave a comment

NR, 89m, 1988

With the Voice Talents of J. Robert Spencer (Seita), Rhoda Chrosite (Setsuko), Veronica Taylor (The Mother) and Amy Jones (The Aunt). Directed by Isao Takahata. Produced by Toru Hara. Screenplay by Isao Takahata. Music by Michio Mamiya. Based on the short story of the same name by Akiyuki Nosaka.

            During the end days of WW2, Allied aircraft bombarded Japanese and German towns in the hopes that the continued assaults would lower moral and hasten the wars end. Japanese cities were built with Japanese homes built close together, with extremely flammable material. This led the Allies to intentionally drop incendiary bombs in order to start massive fires. These firebombing attacks decimated many Japanese cities and lead to the deaths of thousands of Japanese civilians. “War is hell” is a common theme feature in war films such as Saving Private Ryan, Platoon and Paths of Glory. Grave of the Fireflies also explores this theme, the difference is none of the main characters ever pick up a weapon, nor do they ever see an enemy solider. They are on a battlefield, but the battlefield is their neighborhood. This film was shown as a double billing with My Neighbor Totoro, this film was shown first as the distributors didn’t want the audience to leave feeling depressed. After watching this film, I understand why.

            The film opens on September 21, 1945, nineteen days after the Japanese officially surrendered to the Allies. The Japanese are frantically rushing about in eager anticipation, as the Americans will be arriving soon. Two months prior, this news would have been met with fear. The reason the Japanese are happy that the Americans are coming is because Japan is suffering from a massive supply shortage and the Americans are coming with the desperately needed supplies. One Japanese boy is not celebrating, that is because he is about to die of malnutrition. This young boy is named Seita (J. Robert Spencer) and he dies shortly after. A janitor sorts through his meager possessions and finds an empty candy tin box. The janitor throws the tin away, disturbing a cloud of fireflies. The spirit of Seta’s younger sister Setsuko (Rhoda Chrosite) appears and her and the spirit of Seita board a train, presumably bound for the afterlife. The film then cuts back to several months earlier where allied firebombing is decimating Japanese cities. Seita and Setsuko’s mother (Veronica Taylor) is killed during the attack, forcing the orphaned children to move in with their aunt (Amy Jones). The rest of the film centers around the short and tragic lives of the unfortunate siblings.

            The characters in this movie are depressingly enjoyable. Seita is the kindly older brother who makes many sacrifices in order to keep his sister alive and happy. Unfortunately, he’s unable to do this and it crushes him. Setia’s biggest character flaw is he’s unable to put aside his pride and go back to his aunt’s house. While the situation wouldn’t be ideal, it would ensure that he and Setsuko would survive. Setsuko is a five-year-old girl who mainly serves to demonstrate the destruction of innocence. This works as by the time her character dies, many in the audience are brought to tears. The mother is given a small amount of screen time and the father is given no screen time. The father is a captain in the Imperial Japanese Navy, who died when his ship was hit by a torpedo. The mother dies to quickly for the audience to get to know her. Setsuko and Setia’s aunt starts off acting kind to the siblings, but eventually she grows short with the siblings causing them to eventually strike it out on their own.

            The animation of this film is extremely well done. Instead of the traditional black lines, the outlines were done in brown. This gives the film a softer feel. While the character animation is haunting realistic. Immediately after Seita visits his mother in the makeshift hospital, he lies to Setsuko in order to spare her from seeing their mother in a burned state. Setsuko doesn’t say anything but, she looks down and begins to fidget back and forth. This shows without saying a word that Setsuko wants to see her mother, but she understands the situation. This extremely realistic to what an actual toddler would do if put in the same situation. One of the only fault I can find with the animation is at times the characters’ facial expressions get exaggerated. This is most notable when they are about to cry.

            A central theme of this movie is the loss of innocence. This is evident in even the title of the film. In one dazzling scene Setsuko and Seita gather fireflies that illuminate their cave. Unfortunately, Seita and Setsuko are unaware that fireflies only live a few days after reaching adulthood and by morning the fireflies are dead. This symbolizes the beauty and unfortunate fragility of innocence. This mirrors the loss of innocence in the main characters. Near the beginning of the film the siblings are living happily with their mother, but by the end of the film Seita and Setsuko are dead after experiencing the worst aspects of a war-torn society.

            This film is Studio Ghibli’s most depressing film. The film’s opening lets the audience know that there’s going to be no happy ending for these characters and that the two children that the audience follows throughout the film is going to die. This will certainly throw several people off as Ernie states in Elmo in Grouchland “Who’d want to see a movie with a sad ending?” I get this notion, as this film is very difficult to sit through. However, I feel this is an important movie to watch. This film beautifully shows how war is indiscriminate and brings harm to everyone. The best way I can describe this film is the best movie I never want to watch again.

Note: I know this movie is not meant to be taken as an anti-war film. The director Isao Takahata wanted to create a film that conveyed an image of the brother and sister living a failed life due to isolation from society. However, that doesn’t take away from the powerful nature of the film and its depiction of two children trying to survive in an almost apocalyptic environment.

Barefoot Gen 9/10

Nick SheedyLeave a comment

TV-PG, 83m, 1983

With the Voices Talents of Catherine Battistone (Gen Nakaoka), Barbara Goodson (Ryuta Hondo), Kirk Thornton (Daikichi Nakaoka), Iona Morris (Kimie Nakaoka), Brianne Siddall (Shinjee Nakaoka), Wendee Lee (Eiko Nakaoka), Michael McConnohie (Hidezo), Ardwright Chamberlain (Mr. Pak), Dan Worren (Seji Yoshida) and Joyce Kurtz (Hana). Directed by Mori Masaki. Produced by Yasuteru Iwase, Keiji Nakazawa and Takanori Yoshimoto. Screenplay by Keiji Nakazawa. Music by Kentaro Haneda. Based on Barefoot Gen by Keiji Nakazawa.

            Barefoot Gen is based on a manga series (Japanese comic books) of the same name by Keiji Nakazawa. He based the story on his experiences as a Hiroshima survivor. This makes the story feel much more personal and real. The film opens in war-torn Japan, where the residents of Hiroshima are feeling the devastating effects of prolonged war. Like many families, the Nakaoka family are forced to live on meager rations due to Japan having a massive food shortage. This proves especially hard on Gen’s mother, Kimie (Iona Morris), who is heavily pregnant and is suffering from malnutrition. The residents of Hiroshima are well aware of the bombing raids that are devastating other Japanese cities, but for some reason Hiroshima has not been bombed yet. This leads Daikichi, Gen’s father (Kirk Thornton), to wonder if they’re planning something special for Hiroshima. On August 6, 1945 Gen heads off to school with his friend, while is family is inside the house. At 8:15 AM the bomb goes off killing thousands of people. Gen is knocked unconscious and wakes to find his friend is dead. Gen runs back to his house and sees his mother desperately trying to raise a beam that has Daikichi, Shinji (Brianna Siddall) and Eiko (Wendee Lee) pinned under the burning house. Gen tries in vain to help his mother free the rest of the family. This leads to a very emotional scene where Daikichi tells Gen to take his mother and run to safety while Shinji and Eiko scream in pain. Gen drags his mother to safety where she gives birth to a baby girl named Tomoko. A few days later Gen and his mother are sifting through their destroyed house to recover the remains of the rest of their family, when they learn that Japan has just surrendered, and the war is now over (the date is August 15 to those who are keeping track). While eating a meager meal later that night, a small boy named Ryuta Hondo (Barbara Goodson) tries to steal some food. Ryuta looks exactly like Shinji, and because Ryuta no longer has a family, Gen and his mother invite Ryuta to live with them. The rest of the movie is about the small family trying to survive in this new hostile world.

            Needless to say, this movie is not meant for young children. This film has some very disturbing imagery. Right after the bomb goes off, we see a terrified little child holding a balloon, disintegrate in a horrific way (by this I mean her clothes and skin are literally blasted off while her eyes melt from their sockets). This is followed by a scene where a dog tries in vain to escape the blast. The dog doesn’t go quietly either, it whimpers in pain as it melts away. I actually find this scene to be important because when referencing the victims of the atomic bombs, animals are often omitted when it comes to Hiroshima and this scene showed that the blast killed indiscriminately. There’s also a scene involving what I call tasteful partial nudity. This scene involves a woman who has just lost her own baby offering Tomoko (Gen’s baby sister) her breasts. The reason why Kimie (Gen’s mother) is unable to feed her baby is because Kimie is so malnourished, she is unable to produce enough milk. I found this scene to be particularly powerful because it shows that even in the shadow of tragedy, the best of humanity is still able to shine through.

            This film makes excellent use of sound. Right after the bomb is dropped the film goes absolutely silent while the infamous flash is reflected against the characters we have come to know. There’s a song played at the end of the film called “Doko kare Kite Doko e Iku no Ka” by Harry, and the song plays as a paper boat lantern sails down river as Gen’s family silently prays. I found this to be the perfect ending for the film because it symbolizes that even though the family has lost almost everything, they still have hope for the future.

            Just as Saving Private Ryan is the perfect film to teach about D-Day, this film is the perfect tool for teaching about the atomic bombs and their aftermath. The film takes time to depict and talk about the horrors that the bombs brought. This is shown on physical and psychological levels. In one scene, Gen and Ryuta get a job from a man to take care his brother who has been heavily burned by the blast. At first the guy acts like a jerk, while the boys treat him with kindness. Eventually they both get so fed up with the guy that Gen slaps him. The guy calls them back and says its ok if they want to slap him some more. It’s then revealed that the guy has been treated as a corpse for so long that he’s thankful for any kind of human touch even a slap. This scene is a real testament to how great this film is and demonstrating that the effects of the bomb weren’t always physical.

            This film along with Grave of the Fireflies can best be described as the greatest films I never want to see again. While this film has good animation, great characters and a very touching story, its rather hard to sit through. With other sad films like Bambi, Up and Wolf Children, the audience doesn’t have a truly hard time sitting through the film because they know two things. The first is they know that the characters in this film are bound to get a happy ending, and the second is the film is not real. With Barefoot Gen, the audience really can’t think that. The film is based on an actual historical event where thousands of people, including young children, perished. This makes the film even more touching because it depicts what an often forgotten about people had to endure.