Grave of the Fireflies

It’s not often enough that we see films of this calibre. Grave of the Fireflies is an astounding achievement in not only animé, but the animated format itself.

Set in the final days of World War II, Grave details the story of two young siblings - Seita, 14 and Setsuko, four - caught in a firebombing and separated from their mother. After the bombing has passed, they look for her at the bomb shelter to find it destroyed and her severely injured. She doesn’t live for long and the children must fend for themselves in a world struggling to survive with crippling rationing and indifferent and angry countrymen.

"September 21st, 1945… That was the night I died… "

Being taken in by a stern and cruel aunt, they soon realise they're truly alone as news drifts to them of their father’s death at sea. Deciding they can’t stomach any more of the aunt’s mistreatment, they leave and live in an abandoned shelter on a riverbank. Here Seita tries to make Setsuko as comfortable as possible, but they constantly struggle with hunger and in desperation Seita turns to petty crime to keep what remains of his family together.

It’s not often we experience war from anyone but the victor’s viewpoint, but here director Isao Takahata takes us into the decay of an empire as the final days of the war run out. He does so without sloppy sentiment and delivers a film of rich and haunting content; even finding time to reflect on the wonder and beauty of life amidst the destruction. Every frame resonates with evocative and magnificently rendered backgrounds displayed in the original cinema aspect and make full use of it. Some truly superb wide angles and long background pans put us amid the horror most effectively, and not a single frame is wasted in telling the story in as beautiful a manner as possible.

While there may well have been a temptation to cry foul or inject guilt to the powers that be, this has been avoided dutifully, instead creating a world in which anyone could find themselves. Although set in World War II, the events could involve anyone, in any nation, at any time. Faceless bombers drop their malignant payloads, not the ‘Americans’. The people on the receiving end aren’t entirely Japanese in appearance, rather a more generic human base showing the film isn’t just about two children during World War II, it’s about children and victims of war the world over. It’s a statement against the horrors perpetrated by those in power, not about any local issue. And that aids the film in describing the human drama so well in that we as westerners can relate to it all the more. War itself is the enemy here, not any specific boogey-monster.

Beautifully and magnificently told, Grave is one of those rare moments in cinema in which a story has been told in a manner befitting its importance without prejudice or pretension. It’s not just two children suffering here, it’s everyone. It’s humanity. It’s the world. Its point is delivered in a blunt but effective manner done so effectively it has the ability to inspire even the most stony of viewers to look within.

It’s said that wars are fought and lost on television these days, that people don’t feel war the way they used to, but after watching a film of such eloquence and haunting beauty, it’s hard to imagine this is true. War is awful, regardless of whom it is against and, in the end, it’s the innocents that suffer the most. Grave of the Fireflies is a magnificent film of aching elegance and heartbreaking imagery and one that will stay with you long after it is over.

And that’s probably the most important thing of all.

Digitally restored and remastered, Grave looks better than it ever has. I can safely say that after watching one of the extras, but I’ll discuss that a bit further on. Colours are rich and vibrant here with the majority of the palette employing good earthy colours. This makes the bright colours, when they appear, seem all the brighter and this is just how it is supposed to be perceived. Internal lighting of the film is brilliant with some quality effects, though computer aided animation is still several years away at the time this film was made. Of particular note is the lighting of the fireflies. These are brilliantly conceived and executed and the animated colouring of the hand-painted cels works in perfect tandem with them.

Film artefacts have been pretty much removed altogether, including the original reel change markers, and the film looks effectively clean and sharp. The restoration work is a magnificent achievement and one of reference quality without doubt. The layer change is only marginally noticeable at 51:50 as the slightest of pauses and is between cuts, so doesn’t disrupt. The video quality here is exceptional and a real credit to the folks at Madman. Considering the film was made in 1988, it looks like it was made yesterday, even if it is shot to hand-painted cel.

Sadly we only receive a Dolby Digital stereo mix here and while this is effective, a 5.1 surround mix would have been great. Even so, there is no real faulting the sound. Having been cleaned and remastered, it sounds perfect with all levels balanced nicely. I listened to the English dialogue track and this is well acted and not as stilted in the way that some animé suffers.

Sound effects are realistic and suited, without overdoing it. Of particular note is the sound of falling firebombs that whistle in a very convincing manner. Music too is the perfect accompaniment to the film. Scored by Yoshio Mamiya, it employs panpipes and other traditional Japanese instruments, simply evoking the mood from its understatement. It also conveys a feeling of the time and context it is placed into which works to set the period, but doesn’t establish it entirely firmly - further aiding the ‘any period’ feeling.

This two disc set isn’t packed to the gills, but it does have some very interesting things on offer. On Disc One, we receive the film, naturally, plus a full storyboard we can toggle to at any moment of the film using the ANGLE button on our remote. These have all been drawn by the director Isao Takahata and in most cases reflect the on-screen vision pretty much precisely. The storyboards don’t contain sound, but are definitely worth the look.

This first disc is filled out by the mandatory Madman Propaganda trailers for similar releases. These include Spirited Away, Final Fantasy: Unlimited, Last Exile and Revolutionary Girl Utena.

Disc Two contains four headings of Creative Team Extras, Production Extras, Historical Perspective and Interview with Roger Ebert. Creative Team Extras contains an interview with Isao Takahata in which this soft-spoken and heartfelt man speaks about the film’s creation and his personal reflections on the film and his experiences during the war. This has been shot recently for the DVD release.

This is followed by biographies for author Akiyuki Nosaka and director Isao Takahata of three and five pages respectively. Finally a featurette shot at the time of the film’s original release as a promotional spot. This features soundbite interviews with the author and a younger Takahata and runs for 6:36.

Production Extras contains bonus storyboards from the deleted scenes (that were obviously never animated). These are for nine short scenes and a collection of single shots. After that comes the extra I noted earlier, which is the DVNR featurette. This details the restoration of the film by Digital Video Noise Reduction and is a fascinating glimpse at how they make the DVDs we love so much, although it's not nearly long enough at 4:24. A stills gallery comes next and features stills from the film further cleaned and set to music. This plays for 3:09, but the difference between two audio tracks as they change halfway through couldn’t be more apparent.

A very novel inclusion follows called Locations: Then and Now which is exactly that. The places in the film are shown in scene form before switching to a photograph of the region today. This is a surprisingly interesting piece that runs for 2:35. Finally, for this part, the US DVD trailer is followed by the original Japanese theatrical trailer which is clearly (or murkily) unrestored and gives us even more of an idea of what this film could have looked like. Thank God there are people who love cinema so much is all I can say.

Historical Perspective is a 12:25 documentary interview with Theodore and Haruko Taya Cook who present a fascinating retrospective of the period and events within the film. These two are authors of several books on the war in Japan and they speak well of a subject they obviously know a lot about.

Lastly, we have the Interview with Roger Ebert which runs for 12:07 and feels a bit like a sell job to the Yanks. Still, he strips back and explains the style of animé and why it looks like it does and is quite interesting. I got the feeling though that he was in court delivering evidence at points, like he wasn’t convinced he could sell the positives of the film to the audience. Oh well.

There’s enough stuff here to keep the fan interested and does add a fair deal of volume to the film itself. These are nice inclusions and thankfully they haven’t felt the need to jam-pack the extras with any old crap, but have chosen the most select items.

Grave of the Fireflies is a film everyone should experience to fully understand the position of the innocents in wartime. It’s all well and good to encourage the blanket bombing of a country, because from the air we don’t see the individual faces of fellow human beings. Here, that is taken away and we see just what the effect is on the population living under that blanket.

Nothing is gained, but much is lost and there are truly no victors in this sort of remote and guileless atrocity.

It’s a powerful film and a haunting story made all the more horrible because it’s based in reality, if not with real characters. Cinema doesn’t get much more real than this in an animated format, and Grave of the Fireflies stands alone for just that reason. A masterwork.