Grave of the fireflies: Victims of War

Grave of the Fireflies 

Grave of the fireflies is a Studio Ghibli movie directed by Takahata Isao in 1988. The setting of the movie is based on the waning days in Japan during World War 2.  The story follows the lives of a fourteen-year-old boy named Seita and his younger sister who is four years old, Setsuko. This film realistically portrays the sufferings endured during the war. The two kids suffer tragically as they are left for starvation which eventually leads them to their death, and this is the cycle that they have to face over and over again even in death, as spirits. 

This movie does a great job in portraying the struggles of the victims, although there are critics that say that this movie is trying to show only the miseries endured by Japan during the war, I believe that what this movie is actually trying to put out is the sufferings endured by the innocents regardless of which side they are in. There are no winners or losers in a war, everyone is a victim to their situation during wartime.

Most anti-war movies focus on the deaths of the people statistically; however, this movie only focuses on the lives of the two young kids who meet their terrible fated end.

Although Takahata Isao denies the claim that this is an anti-war movie, there is no doubt that this movie does a perfect job in depicting the vicious cycle about the horrors of war.

The film begins and ends with their deaths implying that everything comes back in a circle which means that the two innocent kids cannot escape their fate even in death.

Grave of the Fireflies is a fantastic movie to watch if you want to put yourself on a pedestal and be sad and depressed for a while, I'll be honest even though I really loved this movie I doubt that I will be watching this again just because of how traumatic and depressing it actually was.