1) Grave Of The Fireflies
There aren’t many anti-war movies that manage to evade the genre’s typical trappings. War – by its very nature – is fast, furious, and absorbing when it’s conveyed on screen, and as tragic as the likes of Saving Private Ryan and The Thin Red Line undoubtedly are, there still remains a thrill to the way in which they’re executed. Over the course of film history, there have been just a handful of movies that have performed and behaved as genuine anti-war films. Come and See, as we have already established, is one of them. Grave of the Fireflies is another.
Just seeing the still images of Grave of the Fireflies is enough to bring a lump to the throat. The big, round evocative eyes that have come to unmistakably symbolize Studio Ghibli (the gigantic animation studio responsible for gems such as Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke and The Tale of Princess Kaguya) suggest there may be hope, but ultimately there is none to be found in Isao Takahata’s haunting portrait of a war-ravaged Japan.
The story follows a young man named Seita, who is forced into caring for his young, chirpy sister Setsuko when their mother falls victim to one of the raids enacted by the Allies. After overcoming their initial grief, Seita tries to turn their quest for survival into an adventure in order to keep their spirits uplifted, but as natural sources deplete and citizens become more concerned with protecting themselves, the eternally optimistic pair find themselves left facing a decidedly bleak future.
Grave of the Fireflies is almost three decades old, but you could see it after thirty and the effects would be the same. There’s a hopelessness that creeps up onto the screen, and instead of this sensation falling by the wayside to make room for fresh optimism like you might expect, it only escalates further as the movie ebbs on. Perhaps if all the pro-war leaders were bundled into a room and forced to watch Grave of the Fireflies on a merciless, endless loop, the blissful prospect of eternal world peace may be a little closer than it’s ever been before.
