Grave of the Fireflies

Based on the acclaimed semi-autobiographical book by Akiyuki Nosaka and directed by Isao Takahata for the famous Studio Ghibli, this is one of Japanimation's undisputed masterpieces. As it opens with the death of its narrator, 14-year-old Seita, who is looking after his young sister, Setsuko, in the days after the end of the Second World War, it's been lauded as a pacifist statement. But, this is just as much a study of the pride and selfishness that overtake ordinarily decent people in the depths of a crisis. With their mother dead and their naval father presumed killed, the siblings seek shelter with an aunt before mutual antipathy drives them on to the streets of Kobe, which has been fire-bombed by the US Air Force. The hopelessness of the children's situation makes for harrowing viewing, especially once sickness and delirium sets in. But the nocturnal sequence with the fireflies has an indelible melancholic beauty.