This is far from the first animated film to take place either during or in the aftermath of World War II. Isao Takahata’s peerless Grave Of The Fireflies told the harrowing story of children affected by the firebombing of Tokyo; indeed, Studio Ghibli’s films in general are steeped in the cultural impact of WWII on Japanese culture, with My Neighbour Totoro, Pom Poko, The Wind Rises and From Up On Poppy Hill all exploring what the country gained and lost during its colossal post-war rebuilding project. Then there was Barefoot Gen and its sequel, which provided a nightmarish glimpse of the nuclear bomb that landed on Hiroshima in August 1945. Suzu’s artistic streak is brilliantly folded into the narrative itself; isolated moments, whether they’re the story’s from a child’s imagination or the horror of seeing bombs fall on a Hiroshima harbour, are brought to life with scratchy pencil drawings or Van Gogh-like dabs of paint. In narrative terms, the focus on the mundane everyday might seem a little overplayed at first, but when war inevitably breaks out, the ground-level focus on ordinary people, what they eat and how they interact, has a satisfying and deeply moving pay-off. In This Corner Of The World isn’t as harrowing or outright soul destroying as Grave Of The Fireflies, but this isn’t to say that it doesn’t have a quieter, more restrained impact of its own. Where Barefoot Gen took us right to the epicentre of the nuclear bomb’s impact, In This Corner Of The World very deliberately places its characters at the periphery; one mesmerisingly nightmarish scene aside, this is a film not about the blast, the subsequent firestorms or the thousands dead, but about the physical and psychological ripple effect left in its wake. In its native country, In This Corner Of The World was a huge hit, making back more than 10 times its relatively modest $2m budget. As quiet and meditative as it is, the reasons are plain to see: the events of World War II are gradually passing from living memory, but the effects of Japan’s destruction and surrender changed its course forever. The movie provides a meticulous document of a dark chapter in world history. Through thick and thin, as fires rage in the distance, Suzu and her family carry on with their lives as best they can: picking wild ingredients and cooking up their dwindling supplies of rice. Even for those of us far outside the country’s cultural sphere, In This Corner Of The World is an elegantly-told story about suffering, loss and emotional resilience.
