Grave of the Fireflies

The movie is based on a short semi-true story by a man trying to make amends to himself and those he lost. He blamed his own pride for the tragedies that he and his sister went through. Because this is based on a true story, the film never feels forced, over symbolic, or preachy. The characters make mistakes, make decisions that make no sense, cry when you don't expect them to.

In classical Japanese tradition, fireflies are seen as a symbol of impermanence (due to the firefly's short lifespan) and is often used as a metaphor for human souls. In fact, a species of firefly in Western Japan is named after the Heike family who perished in a famous histrorical navel engaement, the Battle of Dan-no-ura, "Heika Fireflies". People considered the lights of these fireflies, who hovered near bodies of water, to be their souls. During the war, the Japanese sometimes refered to falling bombs as "fireflies" as well. Nice title choice, no?

The movie was a theatrical failure because, damn, it's so sad! But don't worry, the sale of Totoro dolls made up for the loss.

When the end credits came up, I wiped a few tears and immediately called to mind a post I read on Boingboing last week. It was basically a Shame On You to Mick LaSalle, a film critic who praised the (apparently pretty crappy) Monster House as a revolution of humanity in animation. Boy, did everyone get mad at that, bringing up the humanity from the tenderness of Lady and the Tramp as they eat spaghetti to the sorrow of Dumbo and his mother mother as they reach for each other through the bars of her cage (jesus, that is sad.) Of course, I agree, I find hand drawn cell animation to have more humanity in each frame than CG movies display. And of course, Disney is a master. Here's a quote from this dip:

"Animated films always had the advantage of being able to go anywhere and show anything, to defy the laws of physics and follow the imagination as far as it could go. But they never had the ability to show the human face. There was never any point to a close-up in an animated film -- there was never really anything to see."

Grave of the Fireflies was on of the best examples of humanity in animation that i have ever seen. Like Miyazaki's work, the children (especially the 3 year old girl) feel like real children more than real children in live action movies come off. Their love of life, ability to entertain themselves with nothing more than some dirt, their weirdness, the way they deal with death, the way their moods change in an instant, it's such an accurate portrayal. The voice actors for the film were the ages of the characters. You can tell they are, too. No adult could play a child that well.

I guess I'm saying that if you like Totoro (and unless you enjoy drowning sacks of kittens in your spare time you probably do), you should watch Grave of the Fireflies. I can't believe it's not as well known as other animes (or maybe it is, and I just missed that bandwagon everytime it drove by?) I love it when an animation is more powerful than a live action of the same story would ever be. How beautiful is that?

Watch the Trailer here if you have firefox or explorer.