Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)

User Rating:

8.1/10   

Director:

Clint Eastwood

Writers (WGA):

Iris Yamashita (screenplay)
Iris Yamashita (story) ...

Release Date:

12 January 2007 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | History | War

Tagline:

From the director of "Flags of our Fathers" comes the completion of the Iwo Jima saga

Plot:

The story of the battle of Iwo Jima between the United States and Imperial Japan during World War II, as told from the perspective of the Japanese who fought it.

Plot Keywords:

Japan | Island | Japanese Army | Battle | Invasion

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 16 wins & 15 nominations

Cast

Ken Watanabe	...	General Kuribayashi
Kazunari Ninomiya	...	Saigo
Tsuyoshi Ihara	...	Baron Nishi
Ryo Kase	...	Shimizu
Shido Nakamura	...	Lieutenant Ito (as Shidou Nakamura)
Hiroshi Watanabe	...	Lieutenant Fujita
Takumi Bando	...	Captain Tanida
Yuki Matsuzaki	...	Nozaki
Takashi Yamaguchi	...	Kashiwara
Eijiro Ozaki	...	Lieutenant Okubo
Nae	...	Hanako
Nobumasa Sakagami	...	Admiral Ohsugi
Luke Eberl	...	Sam (as Lucas Elliot)
Sonny Saito	...	Medic Endo (as Sonny Seiichi Saito)
Steve Santa Sekiyoshi	...	Kanda

Also Known As:

Red Sun, Black Sand (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for graphic war violence.

Runtime:

141 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | SDDS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

UK:15 | Finland:K-15 | Canada:14A (British Columbia) (re-rating on appeal) | Canada:18A (British Columbia) (original rating) | Ireland:15A | Singapore:NC-16 | Norway:15 | Canada:14A (Alberta/Manitoba/Ontario) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Brazil:14 | Germany:16 | Hong Kong:IIB | Australia:MA | USA:R (certificate #43136) | Argentina:16 | Sweden:15 | Philippines:PG-13 (MTRCB) | Portugal:M/16 (Qualidade) | Spain:13 | South Korea:15 | Malaysia:18SG (DVD) | Peru:14 | Canada:13+ (Québec) | Denmark:15 | South Africa:16 | Netherlands:16 | France:U (with warning)

Filming Locations:

Iceland

Company:

Amblin Entertainment

Trivia:

The story of Lt. Ito strapping mines to himself and lying among corpses to attack a tank is based on the real-life story of Satoru Omagiri, as told in "The Rising Sun" by John Toland.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: The Japanese script uses a number of "gairago" (foreign loanwords), which are in current use, but would have been frowned upon by the nationalist government at the time. These include "raifuru" for "rifle" and "jiipu" for "jeep".

Quotes:

Baron Nishi: [reading the letter from the mother of Sam, the dead marine] And always do what's right because it's right.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The O'Reilly Factor: (2008-05-21)" (2008)

The landscape of war

The companion film to "Flags of Our Fathers" shows the battle of Iwo Jima from the Japanese point of view. Starting with the building of fortifications, hiding from relentless bombardment, and fending off an equally strong attack as American troops land on the island.

"Letters from Iwo Jima" just like "Flags of Our Fathers" is a first rate war movie with a relevant message with its critical nature. "Flags" showed the selling of war and "Letters" does the same, albeit with a different mind-set. Japan was an empire governed by a monarch back then so the military mentality was quite different, but it is also important to note the similarities. Especially at the base of the social pyramid where it is quite apparent that people are people no matter where you go.

Virtually all of the uber-patriotic tendencies that were rampant in Imperial Japan during WWII were also in Nazi Germany and, as both "Flags" and "Letters" demonstrate in the United States as well. People were used for the purpose of the government and were fed propaganda just the same. Maybe a different in a different form, but in the end it is all the same.

Ken Wantanbe is the film's highlight as a military man torn between his sense of duty and his inner feelings. As commander of the island he sees amongst his men the fanaticism, the pacifism, the "just do our job" crowd, and many other configurations of thought in between and mixed with the others. Even strange that some men initially want to fight and are proud to serve in the military and what's shocking is that some of their wives and mothers believe the same.

That paints a landscape of war as something amidst all of the stereotypes that have been made of it. Since that is where the truth usually lies, amidst all the gray matter. --- 9/10

Rated R: war violence/carnage