Grave of the Fireflies

I'm at a bit of a loss when it comes to my feelings on Isao Takahata's film Grave of the Fireflies. It's a sad film to be sure, and it's filled with a lot of emotion and messages, there are worthwhile things to take from it. It's just that it can be hard to take them, considering the film was made for the Japanese youth in the 1980s, a culture and generation removed from now, and while some things are universal in the film, at its heart this film is Japanese and speak mostly to the Japanese, which is perfectly fine, it just makes it harder for an American like myself to fully appreciate it.

A bit of backstory on the film, it was adapted from a novel written in 1967 by Nosaka Akiyuki, a semi-biographical narrative of his experiences in the latter days of World War 2 in Japan, particularly the incendiary bombings by the US. The story and film are quite similar in content, so this can serve to summarize both, and I'll be spoiling the story here, not that it's all too important, since knowing what happens doesn't take any of the emotional punch away.

The story follows a 14 year old boy, Seita, and his 4 year old sister, Setsuko, as their home is destroyed, their mother is killed, and they go live with their Aunt. Though the Aunt is at first nice and sympathetic, the two orphans begin to frustrate her as the rations of food get smaller and Seita spends all of his time with his sister and being unproductive, during the middle of a war. She gets rather harsh and treats them pretty badly in a passive-aggressive sort of way, so Seita eventually decides they'll go live in an abandoned shelter. Though they try to make it home and survive on their own, Setsuko gradually gets weaker and sick, and Seita resorts to stealing crops and during air raids so he can take care of her. Their situation gets worse and worse, and Setsuko dies despite Seita's attempts to take care of her. This is the end of the story and film, but I haven't actually talked about the beginning, because it depicts Seita's end. Some time after Setsuko died, Seita lived in a train station with a bunch of other orphans, and gradually weakened himself, not getting enough to eat, he dies alone along with 20-30 other children. After this death we go back to see how it started, with the initial bombing of Kobe.

Nosaka had a 18 month old sister during this time, and he was unable to keep her from dying, but he survived and partially wrote the story as a way of atoning for this, but also a societal critique of the people who let those things happen, the Japanese bystanders who did nothing for the war orphans. Like Takahata's film, however, it also gets treated as a sort of plea to the Japanese youth to remind them of humility. In both releases, the 67 story and 88 film, Japan experienced an economic boom, and the youth were being spoiled by it; juvenile crime was at its height in those two periods. By those times the war was pretty removed from the youth, a cultural memory more than anything, and none too important to their lives. These works, especially the film, were trying to get the youth to respect what they had and their elders, by showing them the hard times they went through as well as how fleeting things can be, ala the fireflies.

I'll explain what I mean by that last point. Throughout the film, fireflies are shown constantly, generally providing some comfort to the kids in their struggle for survival. The first night they live on their own they fill the place with tons of fireflies to light the dark shelter, and it's beautiful for the night. Come the morning they're all dead, and Setsuko buries them in a grave. The fireflies come to symbolize the children, all the war orphans and such, as short lived beings. The end of the film shows the fireflies flying around and the backdrop of a metropolitan Kobe, tying parallels to the current economic boom. JesuOtaku on thatguywiththeglasses.com pointed out that what the film says there is that this, the metropolitan city, the wealth and all the things you're taking for granted, are only temporary like the firefly, and that they needed to remember what was important in life. As I mentioned this was made for the youth of Japan at those times, and it represents a cultural experience that, while can be appreciated in 21st century United States, doesn't have the exact same impact it did for those people at that time.

Most people who watch it nowadays see the film as an anti-war film, for its honest depiction of events that happened, but Takahata has gone on record as saying that he never intended for the film to be an anti-war film, and that no such message existed in it. Now that seems pretty conclusive, so why do so many people seem to think it's anti-war when the director disagrees? Cultural differences may be the answer, it certainly doesn't help that Grave of Fireflies is mainly for the Japanese, the intent can be lost upon international viewers. There is also the possibility that even if Takahata doesn't see the message in the film, it could still be there. For my money I don't think it's an anti-war film, if anything the war seems to be treated as a sort of natural disaster, something that just happens and the characters have to endure it. There aren't any anti-earthquake or anti-tornado films out there, just ones that deal with survival during them. As much as the war effects them, the characters rarely seem to acknowledge it, Seita and Setsuko disappear more and more into their own world as the film goes on, they don't confront it.

In the same vein of being a plea for humility, it's also a warning against pride. Seita is a 14 year old boy and he's becoming a man, growing up quickly, and he's finding his ego. We see through his interactions with his Aunt that he doesn't think highly of his elders, he doesn't understand their reasoning or listen to their wishes, and eventually decides he's better off taking care of Setsuko alone. This dooms them both, as his pride keeps him from turning back to his Aunt even when things get dire, and they begin to starve. Essentially he kills his sister and himself because he refused to go back and swallow his pride. The youth of Japan during the time of the film's release were like Seita in this way. They grew up in prosperity, and they didn't understand their elder's frustrations with their lifestyle, and they grew rebellious. The film is an example of what can happen when you let pride keep you from listening to your elders. Seita tries to survive with them alone and cut off from their older generation, and they died.

There is a lot in the movie that isn't said outright, there is much symbolism and subtle messages but it's all just draining. There's a lot to discuss about it but my feelings on it are confused and jumbled. On the one hand I appreciate the work put into the film, I appreciate the intent and the messages placed in it. On the other, there may be a problem with it being for such a specific audience at a specific time. There are certain universal truths to it, but knowing that it was for all intents and purposes a film to guilt the younger generation into being more obedient and less rebellious in Japan in the late 80s is difficult for me to get around. It's like I'm being shut out of a conversation, I can still hear it but I'm not involved. Considering how many people found it to be an anti-war film, I don't think the message got through very well outside of Japan anyway. and I think that's what keeps it from being truly great. It's not a universal film, and that's okay, but it limits just how impacting it can be to other cultures. I truly don't know how I feel about this film, you should watch it to see for yourself. Just don't watch the dub, the original Japanese is kind of important, since this is a very Japan-centric film.

-Subtle