Grave of the Firefly's

This is probably the most devastating and powerful war films since Elem Klimov's Come and See, except this is an animated film. Despite its PG rating and its child protagonists, this is certainly not Disney territory. It has the feeling of a deeply personal film from director Isao Takahata, a long time collaborator of Hayao Miyazaki. It takes place in Japan during WWII, focusing on a 14-ish year old boy and his 4-ish year old sister who have recently been orphaned during one of the bombing attacks. The boy even sees the bloodied, bandaged body of his mother before she dies and begins attracting maggots -- this is not "cutesy" animation, nor is it at all graphic and exploitive. It is a poetic, realist film played out with an unusual naturalism that just happens to be animated. Despite it all, he and his sister endure, first living with an aunt who doesn't particularly like them and can't really afford to keep them anyway (food is drastically rationed), and then on their own. The film has some moments of magical beauty (like the best of Miyazaki), such as when they chase the firefly's. Each frame seems to be drawn with such love and compassion, and the characters are brought to life with such subtlty and grace. Takahata's film has a profound love and understanding of humanity -- just watch the joy on the face of the little girl -- but he doesn't avoid the sometimes tragic aspects of our existence. What a beautiful, simple, tragic little film, that I can honestly call one of the most truly sad films I've ever seen.