Grave of the Fireflies on DVD |
Grave of the Fireflies
(Hotaru No Haka) belongs in the ranks of the greatest films ever made about war.
Unfortunately, you've probably never even heard of it.
There's a good reason for that: it's animated.
Even worse, it's Japanese animation.
Japanese animation (anime to its fans; Japanimation
to its critics) is apt to put off non-comic-book-reading adults because of its stylistic
flourishes. It tends to feature childlike characters (drawn with oversized heads and demi-tasse-sized
staring eyes) thrown into situations of hyperkinetic violence, fast cars (or space ships),
and outlandish weapons. Actually this is just typical of the anime that has
achieved wide distribution outside Japan. There is, in fact, a rich tradition of graphic
storytelling in Japan, some of it intensely serious such as the manga (Japanese for
graphic novel) I Saw It: The Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima, A True Survivor's Story,
and the spectacular paean to nature, Princess Mononoke.
Grave of the Fireflies has actually been distributed
in the US, playing the handful of serious repertory cinemas that still exist and a
scattering of campuses. It was even released on laserdisc. But it remains unknown to the
public at large and that's a pity because it's far too fine a film to languish in the anime
ghetto. Fortunately, Central Park Media has recently released it as a lavishly appointed
two-DVD edition. Don't hesitate -- add it to your collection immediately!
It's based on a semi-autobiographical novel by Nosaka
Akiyuki, who survived Kobe's firebombing as a boy and saw close relatives die of burns and
hunger. His life has been shadowed by survivor's guilt and he wrote the book as a way of
vanquishing the ghosts that haunt him.
The story is extremely well known in Japan, as is the film.
In the waning days of the second World War, a teen-aged boy (Seita) and his five-year-old
sister (Setsuko) survive the firebombing of Kobe. Their house, like most of the city, is
destroyed and their mother is badly burned and dies. Their father is a naval officer, far,
far away "defending the homeland."
Among the film's many triumphs is its refusal to demonize
the American enemy or promote the Imperial Japanese cause -- it reports what happens to
individual people and leaves the causes and ideologies alone. The viewer, however,
does not get off so easily. Watching the skies full of bombers raining incendiary devices
down on a city constructed of paper and wood houses made this viewer squirm, no
matter how devoutly I believe in the "good" war.
Effectively orphaned, Seita and Setsuko make their way
through the ruins of Kobe to live with relatives, where their welcome runs out slightly
faster than the money they bring with them. Realizing it time to leave, Seita finds an
empty cave near the river -- a bomb shelter no one uses -- and he and Setsuko move in and
try to fashion as normal a life as possible. At first Seita has money and can afford to
buy food, but eventually there is no food to buy and he takes to scrounging and even
stealing from farmers and deserted homes.
This parallels Akiyuki's experiences, including the detail
which still haunts him to this day: When foraging for spare food, he would sometimes fall
upon his plunder and fill himself, feeding his sister from the remains; his sister
subsequently died from malnutrition.
These details and the tragic nature of the story it tells
make Grave of the Fireflies sound depressing, but it's really not. It certainly
isn't upbeat, but in the midst of its sadness, it is filled with great beauty and even
pleasure.
First, there is Seita's love for Setsuko. He goes to great
lengths to keep her happy and as untouched by the hell they live in as possible and he is
constantly amusing her with little tricks and jokes. One scene that will remain in my
memory forever takes place in the bath -- Seita traps an air-bubble in his washcloth and
releases it explosively in the laughing five-year-old's face.
Later, the two collect thousands of fireflies and transform
their scary new cave into a place of almost magical beauty. The following day, Setsuko
buries the dead fireflies in a grave, while she imagines what her mother's burial must
have been like.
The film does use anime's convention of portraying
its people as childlike and cartoony, but its backgrounds are extremely realistic -- think
of the great artist Hiroshige and you've got the style. Whenever the human story becomes
too intense, the film delivers images of nature. These are typically extremely long shots
and rather than having the effect of slowing the story down or seeming too protracted,
they serve as reflective touchstones. We need them and so do the characters. We
understand the way that the natural beauty surrounding them sustains them when they have
nothing else.
The DVD contains the film in a widescreen presentation,
with both dubbed and subtitled soundtracks. There's also a second disc containing
interviews with director Isao Takahata and with Nosaka Akiyuki (as well as a superb
analysis from Roger Ebert, long an ardent proponent of the film). There are also many
other featurettes concerning the historical perspective and the restoration of the film
for DVD.
The video image is amazing. It's remarkable how good the
best animation looks on home video, especially when presented as a 100" or larger
image. Grave of the Fireflies is one of the best-looking DVDs I've ever seen.
But that praise seems beside the point when one considers
the real reason to see Grave of the Fireflies. It is great movie making and an
intense emotional experience. Forget any preconceptions you might have about animation and
see Grave of the Fireflies now that you've been given the chance.
Once you've seen it, you'll never forget it.
...Wes Phillips
wes@onhometheater.com
