Grave of the Fireflies (1988)

Directed by Isao Takahata. Starring (voices) Tsutomu Tatsumi, Ayano Shiraishi, Akemi Yamaguchi, Yoshiko Shinohara.

Emotionally-gutting story of two orphans in Japan at the end of World War II struggling to survive after their house and hometown is firebombed during an air raid. A powerful anti-war message and an intimately harrowing journey for the two young protagonists, the heavy air of impending tragedy hanging over their grubby labors because the “end” of their story is told first during the prologue, and the rest of the tale plays out in haunting flashback. Told in simple and direct terms, never reaching for easy tearjerking melodrama for effect, its aching beauty is only enhanced by the moments of light and joy that periodically seep through the dark clouds, witnessing childlike innocence that refuses to crumble away even as the bodies begin to. An early effort from Japan’s premiere animation company, Studio Ghibli, and one of the most profoundly poignant, eloquent, and upsetting motion pictures ever released. If given the choice between the subtitled original or the English dub, choose the former every time (or “the one time,” since revisiting may be to painful to even conceive for some). Japanese title: Hotaru no Haka.

97/100