Reviews

PLOT AND REVIEW This is a truly moving film. First of all, Is a film about war. The film starts in the September 1945. Seita and Setsuko, this are the names of the two protagonists, lose their house After a bombardment in Kobe, their town. This event Will lead to a sequence of orher sadful and moving events, first of all the death of their mother. Then, after staying in their aunt's house, they are forced to leave, abandoned not only by an unfortunate fate, but also by people. In times of war, resources are limited and hunger and misery leave little space for solidarity. All people must primarily provide for their own needs and those of their family. This, in itself, is not cruelty, it is a survival instinct.

Furthermore, the loss of their father leave the two completely hopeless. Seita manages, during all the movie, to feed his little sister, at all costs, even becoming a thief. But, at the end, he Is forced to assist at her death for malnutrition, and, as we know from the beginning, he will face the same fate.

So, beyond war, orher themes in this film are love and misery. The love of Seita for his sister Is immeasurable, but It Is fated to lose against the cruelty of war. Indeed, in the unfortunate series of events, the aim of the authors result very clear: underline very strongly how war can affect the life of people.

The death of the fireflies, after being imprisoned in the mosquito net, is a strong metaphor for the condition of the two protagonists who are locked up in an atrocious fate. Just as the life of the fireflies was fugacious, the same will be for Seita and Setsuko.

In conclusion, this is a very recommended film, since the plot and the animations are very well made, and they barely feel the weight of age. They don't make animation movies like this every day.

This movie focuses on hypnosis and mental confusion and, thanks to this elements, create a complicated plot full of plot twists, typical of South Korean movies. The plot twists in my opinion are a bit forced, like the fact that the movent to the crime of the doctor was the life insurance (plausible but a bit... exaggerated), the fact that the protagonist, a normal and kindly boy, would kill a strange in order to save his brother after the car accident, and the fact that the police let go a man in a confused state as the protagonist after he escaped from the house and believed he was 21 instead of 41.

Despite of this, I found the plot very interesting and another good thing about the movie is that it pushes you to move on with the viewing.

Peculiarity: many plot twists that in some point make the plot a bit unlikely ; good acting; good music; creepy elements.

This Lenzi's movie tries to put togheter two types of movies: the comedy and the poliziesco, which tryed to replace the western movies in those years, at that time not popular anymore. The comedy elemens are visible in some points of the movies, not that funny but well mixed into the plot (like the scene of the two lover caught in the bed). One example of the poliziesco element is the canonic characters such as the commissary, the bandits, even if the presence of two negative characters brings new details.

* PLOT: Godible plot if you are a poliziesco fan, but a little tasteless in some point. 6/10

* ACTING: A good performance from both the principal actors. Milan gave a little bit of depth to his charachter and it almost seems to me a predecessor of the most famous Tony Montana by Al Pacino, even if the plot did not allow this depth to come out at best. Merli was good in his acting but he gave better performances in other movies. 7/10

*MUSIC: I didn't like this soundtrack, a bit repetitive in some points. 5.5/10

*OTHER: The lack of reflections on society and on the division of social classes, evident in another film by lenzi, "La banda del gobbo", has slightly disappointed me.

In conclusion, this movie is recommended, but only if you have already seen masterpieces of the genre poliziesco such as: -La banda del gobbo 9/10 -Squadra volante 9/10 -Il cittadino si ribella 9/10.