Seita and Totoro — The Greatest Double-Bill Of All-Time?
Nathanael Smith returns with Hope Lies In Animation, his weekly look at all things animated. This week Nathanael takes a look at two films, deemed by him to form “The Greatest Double-Bill Of All Time”, My Neighbour Totoro and Grave Of The Fireflies.
I promised in my opening column an article about Isao Takahata’s Only Yesterday. Alas, the fates have conspired against me managing to watch it this week so I thought I would look at two earlier films from the same studio that similarly deal with childhood, but in completely different ways. Released together in 1988 it’s two of my all time favourite films — My Neighbour Totoro and Grave of the Fireflies. It will feature spoilers for the latter, but the ending is given away at the start of the film, and to be honest, you probably need to be warned before you watch it anyway.
It seems like an utterly bizarre choice of films to release in a double bill. Takahata’s Grave of the Fireflies is a grim, unflinching look at two children trying to survive in World War Two, and it makes almost everyone cry. Utterly heartbreaking and often shocking, it is a difficult, depressing watch and caused the box office failure of these two films because children could not handle it’s intense emotions. Hayao Miyazaki’s My Neighbour Totoro, meanwhile, is 80 minutes of unadulterated joy. It is the quite simple story of two children who move into a new house and befriend the forest spirits — the totoro. Brimming with invention, as well as being devastatingly charming, it is rare to find this happy or conflict free. Aside from a slightly concerning sequence towards the end (for those of you who have seen it — whose shoe was that?), there is no threat, no big baddie. It is just a sweet observation of two sisters enjoying life.
Yet beyond the glaringly different plots of these films the two feel naturally suited to each other. There are superficial similarities — both feature a protective older sibling and a naïve younger sibling — but it goes deeper than that. As Setsuko and Seita sit in their makeshift tent and watch the fireflies together, it is a moment of haunting beauty as they forget the horrors of the war around them and just enjoy being family. The film is based on a semi-autobiographical book of the same name by Akiyuki Nosaka which was written as a way of dealing with his guilt over the death of his sister, so the strength of familial bonds displayed here are given an extra resonance.
Totoro places similar value on the importance of family. Satsuki and Mei live with their father as their mother lies with an unknown illness in the nearby hospital, creating a solidarity between the two girls. Their loyalty to each other is beautifully echoed in behaviour of the three Totoro, with the smallest following the slightly bigger one around just as Mei mimicked her older sister when they were exploring their new house. Such minute observations are what makes a simple film like Totoro so great. The children are totally believable, Miyazaki faultlessly observing the way in which a child’s imagination can keep them occupied for hours on end.
It’s interesting to see ideas of childhood contrasted in the two films. Both have almost pitch perfect portrayals of the relationships between young siblings, yet for one the fears are a new house, an ill mother and the emergence of young love whilst the other deals with bombers, malnutrition and a mother who dies at the start of the film. The courageous heroes of Fireflies would not feel out of place in Totoro if times were more peaceful, and it is not difficult to imagine the plucky Satsuki acting very similarly to Seita were she faced with the challenges of war. As it is, these characters are what stay with you when the film has finished, and they are the key to their place amongst the greatest films ever made about growing up.
My Neighbour Totoro went on to enter Japanese popular culture in a big way, with Totoro becoming almost as recognisable there as Mickey Mouse is here. Unsurprisingly, Grave of the Fireflies did not enjoy as much success. It is difficult to imagine a range of, say, firefly soft toys when said bug dies the next day for the sake of symbolism. Yet both are absolutely vital films to watch for any fans of animation, or of films in general. It is rare to find a film that can provoke emotions in the same way that Fireflies can, even amongst live action cinema. It is a powerful piece of anti-war art, and it deserves to be recognised as such. Meanwhile, My Neighbour Totoro is a perfect children’s film, but can be enjoyed by anyone who grew up at some point. Or even for those who never did. I do, however, recommend watching Totoro second, as you are guaranteed to need cheering up after the first film.
