15 Feel-Bad Movies That Make You Feel Like Sh*t
2. Grave Of The Fireflies
Set in the last few months of World War II in Japan, Studio
Ghibli’s Grave of the Fireflies opens with the firebombing of Kobe and the
orphaning of its two main characters – brother and sister Seito and Setsuko –
and let’s just say it doesn’t exactly get much more light-hearted from there
on.
Sent to live with a begrudging aunt who resents having to look after them, the pair decide to try and make it on their own and set up home in an abandoned bomb shelter living off what little food they can scrounge and scavenge. Despite Seito’s best efforts to keep his sister happy, fed and safe she eventually succumbs to malnutrition.
Never mind though – it’s just a dramatization of history, right? Nope, it’s actually based on a semi-autobiographical short story by writer Akiyuki Nosaka who lost not one but two sisters during World War II.