Grave of the Fireflies
[Movie]
[Reviewed by Bethany]

When I watched this movie, I was in a hotel room in Milwaukee with my sister Angie and our friend Mary Beth. We'd all been warned, we knew what were getting ourselves into by watching this movie. (Well, sort of.) So we were expecting to cry.

We weren't expecting to cry within the first five minutes.

Story
To quote Ros: "It's about two children starving in Japan. They starve." ...Which is precisely it, if a bit blunt. After being orphaned by bombings during World War II, Seita — a young boy whose age I'm uncertain of but will guess is between ten and fifteen — must take care of his sister and look for help in a world where this is none to be had. People must take care of themselves first and others after, and Seita is forced lower and lower. He steals, he runs, he hides ... but nothing he does is enough to save his sister or himself.

Is That Really It?
Yes. And no. Grave of the Fireflies is beautiful... and it is also the most depressing thing I have ever seen. And it isn't simply a work of fiction — the book Grave of the Fireflies is based on was written semi-autobiographically by a man who lost his sister in such a way. But even without that stinging bit of reality, Grave of the Fireflies is one of the most emotionally disturbing things ever created. While there are brief, blissful moments during the film, they're always shadowed by the weight of the knowledge you're given at the beginning of the movie: This is when I died, and this is how it happened.

Of course, I shouldn't say Grave of the Fireflies is just about death—really, it isn't. But it isn't truly about life, either. It is about dying, in more ways than one. It's about loss—it gives you something wonderful and then crushes it slowly: these are lives about to end; this is a world that will not come again. It is futility. It is hope that does not survive. It is beauty.

...And boy is it depressing.

The Bottom Line
Watch it once, alone. Sob for the rest of the night, get a long, good sleep, and then begin the recovery process. Odds are the phrase "fruit drops" will send you into convulsions for at least a week.