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Almost all of the people reading this post will, in all probability, be from Western countries... So, with almost certainty, I can tell you that, almost all of us will have grown up with the perspective of the victors of World War II; the Allies, the United States of America... But beyond that curiosity, what is shocking is what Ghibli Studios did in 1988; not only did it create one of the most important feature films in the history of Japanese and world animation; but it also showed us what the horror of having survived two nuclear bomb drops, and having been part of the losing side of the war, could feel like?
Based on hundreds of thousands of anecdotes from the time, this is the story of two siblings. A boy and a little girl... But before giving details about the plot, I want to emphasise that the striking thing about this Japanese-style animated film (a masterpiece of anime) is the delicacy with which it deals with the most atrocious of horrors.... There are no exaggerated scenes or shots to make anyone vomit.... This is about what two young children of their time have to do to survive in a Japan devastated by destruction and famine.
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Their parents are killed in the conflict. The father, a Japanese naval commander stationed in Pacific seas to defend the defeated Japanese Empire against the United States, and his mother has died, along with hundreds of others, as a result of bombing and the underlying aftermath of the war itself. There is no empathy, no humanity, and even less compassion. These are orphaned children, who need help, especially from their families, and no one does anything to help them.... Their uncles see them as nuisances and treat them as worse than a pest. They don't share food with them and mistreat them... the children run away and accept loneliness as opposed to humiliation.
Life is pure survival. Between illness, hunger, theft to be able to eat, hiding in the street from those who might hurt and harm them, and overcoming the death that stalks them at every moment, the children manage to overcome, as best they can, by sheer sacrifice, the obstacles? Life is hard, weaker and weaker, especially the girl, who is smaller; hunger is never satiated? In the hands of the older brother, a small tin can with a nauseating content but which will be symbolic for the meaning of the film. We see, through the Japanese perspective, how a war is suffered...
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As heroism abandons all logic and all that remains is survival at all costs, indolence and a marked sense of loneliness.... It is a country adrift, without hope, but where fraternity, love and the values that make us all human; we can witness them through the circumstances that the two brothers have to endure. It is impossible not to be moved and shocked, in similar proportions, by Grave of the Fireflies.... And the most inexplicable thing is that this film only arrived in Latin America in 2005, in Europe in 2005 and in the United States in 2000. More than 12 years after its original release in Japan.
Censorship and bias is a part of every society... There is a rhythm and a starting point that seems to be culturally and historically imposed ... Not to mention, that in war, and even more so in World War II, there is always a high price to pay. It is a heart-rending, profound animation, with settings of real places and striking colours. Montage sequences that remind us of the harshness of a period we were lucky not to have lived through? And the sound that will make you never forget what you have heard in this animation... Grave of the Fireflies is the masterful perspective of the ‘soulless’ Japanese enemy thrown overboard... It is what, surely you and I would do, if instead of those two unfortunate children; it would have been one of us. Please, what a work of pure Japanese art. Bravo!
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