Grave Of The Fireflies...Wow - Page 3

Carlo Medina · 02-21-2004, 02:32 PM

Quote:

I'm sure someone has these answers or maybe I just missed them in the telling of the story, but it appeared to me that the characters didn't act intelligently/

Actually I believe the answers are in the film, but I'm not going to watch it right now to dig up all the facts. It's simply too emotional of a movie and I have to be in the mood to view it.

It is semi-autobiographical - the author did lose his young sister to starvation during the war, but obviously he himself survived. But feeling the guilt and loss, I'm sure he felt like he died (or a big part of him died) along with his sister, hence the book (and movie's) main character also dies.

Ernest Rister · 02-22-2004, 03:53 PM

I don't think the boy merely dies, I think he may have killed himself via self-starvation to atone for his guilt over his sister's death. The first time we see him, he is starving in a subway, and a woman offers him food and he doesn't even try for it. Too weak to eat, perhaps. Or no will to live. There may be no difinitve answers in many of the great movies - and in a way, that's one of the things that makes them great.

Arman · 03-28-2005, 11:12 PM

Am browsing some books in Yale Bookstore / Barnes & Noble in New Haven, CT besides an old theater which is screening Melinda and Melinda and Don't Move when I read this in Roger Ebert's review/section of Grave of the Fireflies in his latest book, The Great Movies II ... "... Grave of the Fireflies is the most profoundly human animated film I've ever seen." [I bought the copy of the first one when it just came out but am not still sure if I will buy this one]

Ernest,

Which publication or internet site do you write your film reviews? Maybe you already know that Ebert quoted and credited you with that. Grave of the Fireflies made it in Ebert's 100 more great films. WOW x3! [Great call by Ebert! Plus, I did not know that a) you are famous and has been Ebert's movie buddy b) that Ebert is a lurker here?

]

MatthewLouwrens · 03-29-2005, 02:03 AM

I remember reading this review when you posted it in the Bambi discussion thread last year, and the astonishing power and passion in the review prompted me to buy the film as a blind-buy, which I almost never do.

The most astonishing movie experience I have ever had - and the only time a movie has moved me to tears. I loaned the film to my parents, and it was six months before I got it back as the DVD made its way around everyone my parents know, and I understand pretty much everyone loved the flm.

Ernest Rister · 03-29-2005, 01:16 PM

a) I'm hardly "famous"

b) Roger Ebert was not lurking the HTF and quoting a post...From 1998 - 2001, I wrote an industry e-zine analyzing classic and current films called The Outsider. At first it was just sent to 16 friends of mine in Los Angeles who worked in the entertainment industry, but the distribution list grew rapidly, until I had readers in Brazil, Japan, the Netherlands, the UK, Germany. Roger Ebert quotes my work three times during this period, in his reviews for Pinocchio, Fantasia, and Grave of the Fireflies. The Fireflies review ran in the December 9th edition of the Outsider, which also contained my analysis of Empire of the Sun. The thing started taking over my life, becoming a chore rather than a pleasure, and there was no way to make money and earn a living deconstructing Empire of the Sun and Clint Eastwood's True Crime, etc., so I decided to channel my energies elsewhere. I briefly planned to revive the newsletter in 2004, but then I remembered why I stopped doing it in the first place and left it alone.

Claudia P · 03-29-2005, 01:39 PM

Wow - what a fantastic review. Likewise, I have bumped this up to my must see list.

I don't watch a lot of animation (most recent was Triplets of Belleville which I loved to bits) and only one has moved me to tears: believe it or not it was 'Land Before Time'. The dying dinosaur explaining the circle of life to her baby Littlefoot still gets to me all these years later. What a wuss, huh?

Thanks again for the great review and for inspiring me to seek out the movie.

Brook K · 03-29-2005, 01:45 PM

In Ebert's review he mentions that the author was filled with guilt over his sister's death. When he found food he would first eat and then bring what was left to his sister.

I can understand how some would blame Seita for bringing problems upon himself, but that doesn't change the horror of the situation. Also these are children, they react emotionally, not logically. We can't impose "well I would have just done this and everything would be ok" type behaviours on them. We are not living the situation they are living or seeing things as they are seeing them.

As for the comment on the money, perhaps you are unfamiliar the wartime economics. Runaway inflation caused by scarcity of supply would have used up their savings rapidly. As shown in the movie, at times, food could not be had at any price. Particularly in Japan, which was on a total war footing, there would have been relatively little a farmer could buy with the money anyway, and thus didn't have much incentive to sell. By the end of the war, with the American submarine blockade choking off all imports, including gasoline for transportation and mechanized farm equipment, all able-bodied men mobilized into the military, and a broken economy, farm production fell drastically and starvation was a problem all over Japan.

Akira Kurosawa writes in his autobiography ...Something Like An Autobiography about how little there was to eat, people would be reduced to eating grass, etc. If anything, the situation was probably worse than what was shown in GOTF.

Scott_MacD · 03-29-2005, 05:34 PM

Interesting story, Ernest.. I think any decent film-magazine editor would be a fool not to use your truly stunning writing talents as film critic and historian.

You are a credit to the HTF, and a continuing measure of it's high signal-to-noise ratio of writing worth reading.

John Garcia · 03-29-2005, 08:39 PM

Very nice review. I own the special edition. IMO, this one isn't a rental. It is truly a great film and I highly recommend it to anyone and everyone also.

Ernest Rister · 03-29-2005, 11:28 PM

For instance, why did Seita sit around all day and not go to work like everyone wanted him to?

There is a dual layer, here, I think. The entire film is about how such a tragedy could happen. What I saw were adults so stressed that they abdicated their adult responsibility to assist and nurture the young by blaming Seita. The horrifying part is, I belive Seita took their words to heart, and after Setsuko dies, this is what drives him to his own suicide. Mr. Ebert writes about how the author of the book was plagued with guilt. The film shows where this guilt originated and what the cost was, when in fact the true blame lies directly at the feet of the aunt, the farmer, everyone who turned their back because they were overwhelmed with their own problems.

Also, there seemed to be concerned people in town that might have been willing to help them (policeman), yet they continued to hide out in the cave even after Setsuko's illness became serious.

Seita takes Setsuko to the doctor, and what is he told? That her only medicine is food. The girl needs food.

Seita rages...Food? WHERE DO I GET FOOD?

The doctor is overwhelmed. He has no answer, and offers no help or advice. Another hopeless case. He sends Seita out and sees the next person in line.

It is clear that the indifference of the society in the face of their own need is a primary cause of the tragedy of Fireflies.

You know, looking into our own hearts, can we in America say that such a tragedy could never happen here? I think, in a way, it happens every day, all over the world, every time someone turns their back on someone's suffering, thinking "Well, they brought it on themselves, I have my own problems."

That's the central damning point of Grave of the Fireflies, how human beings are able to rationalize human suffering in light of their own self-preservation. Few animated films have such insight into the human character, and even fewer are able to dramatize these observations in so devastating a fashion.

Edwin-S · 03-29-2005, 11:55 PM

I have always felt that the movie could be interpreted a different way. The interpretation being that by not going to work, thereby fulfilling his "duty to his country", Seita assures the destruction of himself and his sister. Sometimes I got the distinct feeling that the subliminal message was, "perform your duty to your country or die".

A person had to feel sorry for the girl. Her demise was the direct consequence of pride and foolishness. This thread should be renamed as a discussion thread. Someone who hasn't seen the film may pop in thinking this is a review thread and end up having the movie spoiled for them.