toddgold-21945

This may not be right of me, but I gave this astoundingly POWERFUL film 9/10 stars. It honestly deserves a perfect 10--But I held back because I was simply SO emotionally Devastated, overwhelmed, and utterly consumed by grief that I am unfairly giving it a 9. The film is possibly the most spiritually crushing war film Ever made--with the only conceivable exception being Elem Klimov's absolute masterpiece,"Come and See." However, a convincing argument can certainly be made that "Grave of the Fireflies" is on That same level. It's, at the very least, a very close 2nd place. Expect a heavy heart!

AND ONCE, AGAIN: THANK GOD, THAT WE HAVE A TRUE ARTIST, LIKE PETER WATKINS, TO HAVE LIVED IN OUR LIFETIME, However, it's SUCH A TRAGEDY NOT ENOUGH PEOPLE KNOW WHO THIS DYNAMO OF DOCUMENTARY IS, NOR HOW HE SINGLEHANDEDLY MADE THE WORD: "Pseudo-DOCUMENTARY, NOT A DIRTY ONE-Decades before the great, Abbas Kiarostami made his great "Close-Up!"

And THANK GOD FOR PETER WATKINS! This man is an INTERNATIONAL GEM & HIS WORK DESERVES TO BE SEEN IN ITS ENTIRETY!

-todd gold.