Chuck Jones is often credited to the quote, “if you can do it in live-action than it shouldn’t be animated.” With today’s technology this solid rule has weakened, but for this 1988 anime feature there is nothing in it that would have kept it from being a live-action feature at the time of production. So why make it an animated feature? As a director I wouldn’t want to put real children through the torture that these children must endure during the U.S. fire bombing of Japan during WWII. This heartrending feature is the most emotional devastating feature I’ve ever seen. It’s also one of the best animated features I’ve ever seen.
The story begins at the end with Seita, a 14-year-old boy, dying alone is a train depot. After this, we flashback to him living with his sick mother and his 4-year-old sister Setsuko. During one bombing Seita and Setsuko are separated from their mother, who is severely burned and eventually succumbs to her injuries. With their father away in the Navy, Seita and Setsuko go to live with their selfish aunt, uncle and cousin. Their aunt cares little for them, barely paying them attention unless to tell them how worthless they are or to take advantage of them. It gets to the point when the siblings must go out on their own.
By focusing its story on two innocent children, the story powerfully portrays the cruelty of war. This film doesn’t necessarily paint the U.S. in a negative light, but it does make us question the morality of random firebombing. What military objective – outside of demoralizing a population – is it to burn innocent civilians’ homes? This point is driven home by making the protagonists so young and relatively helpless. However, director Isao Takahata, who also adapted the screenplay from a novel by Akiyuki Nosaka, doesn’t fail to point out the pressures that war puts on its citizens from within their own government. Rations and blind patriotism are part of the reason why the children’s aunt treats them so poorly. A dog eat dog mentality sets in.
Another part of the impending tragedy is Seita and Setsuko’s naiveté. Seita is pretty resourceful, but certain beliefs lead to certain choices that hurt him and his sister in the end. As the situation gets worse, Seita must resort to questionable actions to survive. In all of this though, he does anything to protect his sister, physically and emotionally.
The animation is evocative. Capturing a realistic tone, which serves the material well, the design style has whimsy and an otherworldly quality at key times. There are powerful visual moments, especially the mother’s death and the firefly motif, that stay with the viewer. This visual poetry only adds to the emotional weight of the material.
GRAVE reminded me of FORBIDDEN GAMES, another film that dealt with children’s painful confrontation with war and death. Both films highlight the pointlessness of war by using the innocence and love of children as a focal point. Both make you feel a sense of loss that transcends politics and makes us understand better the value of love and one individual life.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
