- Letters From Iwo Jima Movie Review
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It's a simple establishing shot: a tilt up from the beach where the Allied forces landed to Mount Suribachi, a rocky knob on the southern tip of the island where the Japanese holed up in a network of tunnels and bunkers, and on top of which the famous, iconic image of the raising of an American flag was taken. That classically heroic-looking photo, and the collateral damage from its exploitation as a propaganda tool to sell War Bonds, was the subject of Eastwood's 2006 'Flags of our Fathers,' the companion piece (or other half) of 'Letters From Iwo Jima,' though it doesn't really matter which one you see first.
The opening moments of 'Letters' have a cosmic zoom-like effect, taking us from the timeless and abstract (stars/sand) into a specific place and time: 'Iwo Jima 2005,' as a title denotes. It was on this barren little sulfuric spec in the Pacific Ocean, only about five miles from one end to the other, that so many people fought and died 60 years ago.
'Flags of Our Fathers' ended with a similar motion, going from memory-images of surviving Marines frolicking in the surf, to the Stars and Stripes atop Mount Suribachi and the battleships in the harbor, and finally up into the sky (another reason you might think you're looking up rather than down at the start of 'Letters,' which begins with a view in the opposite direction from the close of 'Flags'). The camouflaged artillery that proved so deadly and menacing in 'Flags' are, by the start of 'Letters,' just rusty relics at a war memorial site. Archeologists explore Suribachi's caves and tunnels, still marveling at how the soldiers ever managed to build them.
And then we're on the beach again, in 1945, as Japanese soldiers prepare for the invasion they know is coming by digging trenches in the sand. It looks like a futile, Sisyphean effort. In a letter to his wife (heard in voiceover) one of the diggers, a puppy-faced former baker named Saigo (Kazunari Ninomiya, in a thoroughly winning performance), writes philosophically: 'This is the hole that we will fight and die in.'
They might have died a lot sooner if they'd stuck with this ill-conceived sand strategy. When the new commander, General Tadamichi Kuribayashi (the always-commanding Ken Watanabe), arrives at Iwo Jima, he immediately changes plans, ordering men and artillery to dig in on higher ground. These are the preparations for the massive ambush we see in 'Flags of Our Fathers.'
The Japanese, who are seen as fierce, highly organized fighters in 'Flags,' aren't as well-prepared, or well-equipped, as we may have thought. Dashing Baron Nishi (Tsuyoshi Ihara), the Olympic equestrian star who once partied with Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford in Hollywood, appears on the island with his horse, as a symbolic morale-boost for the men. But in a conversation with Kuribayashi over a bottle of Johnnie Walker, Nishi approaches the military reality they face in an indirect manner: 'When you think about it,' Nishi offers, 'it is regrettable that most of the Combined Fleet was destroyed.' This is the first news Kuribayashi has had of that particular catastrophe -- but he already knows he doesn't have the manpower or weaponry he needs to resist the pending invasion. (Again, parallels to under-equipped American soldiers being asked to hold ground in Iraq without the necessary material support from their leaders at home is a part of the movie's frame of reference.)
'The Imperial Headquarters is deceiving not just the people but us as well,' Kuribayashi says. It's a line that could have been adapted from 'Flags of Our Fathers,' which was also an examination of various forms of propaganda, codes of honor, and nationalistic symbolism that are among the primary weapons in any war.
When young Saigo is conscripted into the Japanese army, he and his pregnant wife are stunned at the response of his neighbors and friends who, like brainwashed cultists, keep repeating that he is fortunate to be chosen to die for his country. The emphasis here is on the honor conveyed by death itself -- something we see later in the film when soldiers, aware that they're engaged in a hopeless battle, choose to kill themselves rather than fight to the death. One can't help recalling the words attributed to Gen. George S. Patton in 1944: 'Now I want you to remember that no bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. You won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country.'
In both his films, Eastwood empathizes with the 'expendable' soldier on the ground, the 'poor bastard' who is only a pawn in a war conceived by generals and politicians, some of whom have never come anywhere near a battlefield or a combat zone. And Eastwood fully commits to a boots-on-the-ground POV: The raising of the American flag, presented as a routine, off-hand task to the soldiers in 'Flags of Our Fathers' (and which would have remained that way if a photographer had not been present), is only glimpsed obliquely from afar by the Japanese in 'Letters from Iwo Jima.' Life or death, heroism or folly: It all comes down to which side you're on, and which piece of ground you're occupying, at any given moment in the battle.
Letters From Iwo Jima Movie Review
Flags of Our Fathers | |
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Directed by | Clint Eastwood |
Produced by |
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Screenplay by | |
Based on | Flags of Our Fathers by James Bradley and Ron Powers |
Starring | |
Music by |
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Cinematography | Tom Stern |
Edited by | Joel Cox |
Distributed by |
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132 minutes[1] | |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $90 million[2] |
Box office | $65.9 million[2] |
Flags of Our Fathers is a 2006 American war film directed, co-produced, and scored by Clint Eastwood and written by William Broyles Jr., and Paul Haggis. It is based on the 2000 book of the same name written by James Bradley and Ron Powers about the 1945 Battle of Iwo Jima, the five Marines and one Navy corpsman who were involved in raising the flag on Iwo Jima, and the aftereffects of that event on their lives.
Until June 23, 2016, Bradley's father John Bradley, Navy corpsman, was misidentified as being one of the figures who raised the second flag, and incorrectly depicted on the memorial as the third bronze statue from the base of the flagstaff with the 32-foot (9.8-m) bronze statues of the other five flag-raisers on the monument.[3]
The film is taken from the American viewpoint of the Battle of Iwo Jima, while its companion film, Letters from Iwo Jima, which Eastwood also directed, is from the Japanese viewpoint of the battle. Letters from Iwo Jima was released in Japan on December 9, 2006, and in the United States on December 20, 2006, two months after the release of Flags of Our Fathers on October 20, 2006.
- 4Release
- 7References
Plot[edit]
As three US servicemen – Marine Private First Class Ira Hayes, Private First Class Rene Gagnon, and Navy CorpsmanJohn 'Doc' Bradley – are feted as heroes in a war bond drive, they reflect on their experiences via flashback.
After training at Camp Tarawa in Hawaii, the 28th Marine Regiment5th Marine Division sails to invade Iwo Jima. The Navy bombards suspected Japanese positions for three days. Sergeant Mike Strank is put in charge of Second Platoon.
The next day, February 19, 1945, the Marines land in Higgins boats and LVTs. The beaches are silent and Private First Class Ralph 'Iggy' Ignatowski wonders if the defenders are all dead before Japanese heavy artillery and machine guns open fire on the advancing Marines and the Navy ships. Casualties are heavy, but the beaches are secured.
Two days later, the Marines attack Mount Suribachi under a rain of Japanese artillery and machine gun fire, as the Navy bombards the mountain. Doc saves the lives of several Marines under fire, which later earns him the Navy Cross. The mountain is eventually secured.
On February 23, the platoon under command of Sergeant Hank Hansen reaches the top of Mount Suribachi and hoists the United States flag to cheers from the beaches and the ships. Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal, who witnesses the flag raising as he lands on the beach, requests the flag for himself. Colonel Chandler Johnson decides his 2nd Battalion deserves the flag more. Rene is sent up with Second Platoon to replace the first flag with a second one for Forrestal to take. Mike, Doc, Ira, Rene, and two other Marines (Corporal Harlon Block and Private First Class Franklin Sousley) are photographed by Joe Rosenthal as they raise the second flag.
On March 1, the Second Platoon is ambushed from a Japanese machine gun nest. During the fight over the nest, Mike is hit by a U.S. Navy shell and dies from his wounds. Later that day, Hank is shot in the chest and dies, and Harlon is killed by machine gun fire.
Two nights later, while Doc is helping a wounded Marine, Iggy is abducted by Japanese troops and dragged into a tunnel. Doc finds his viciously mangled body a few days later. On March 21, Franklin is killed by machine gun fire and dies in Ira's arms. Of the eight men in the squad, only three are left: Doc, Ira, and Rene. A few days after Franklin's death, Doc is wounded by artillery fire while trying to save a fellow corpsman. He survives and is sent back home. On March 26, the battle ends and the U.S. Marines are victorious.
After the battle, the press gets hold of Rosenthal's photograph. It is a huge morale booster and becomes famous. Rene is asked to name the six men in the photo; he identifies himself, Mike, Doc, and Franklin, but misidentifies Harlon as Hank. Rene eventually names Ira as the sixth man, even after Ira threatens to kill him for doing so.
Doc, Ira, and Rene are sent home as part of the seventh bond tour. When they arrive to a hero's welcome in Washington, DC, Doc notices that Hank's mother is on the list of mothers of the dead flag raisers. Ira angrily denounces the bond drive as a farce. The men are reprimanded by Bud Gerber of the Treasury Department, who tells them that the country cannot afford the war and if the bond drive fails, the U.S. will abandon the Pacific and their sacrifices will be for nothing. The three agree not to tell anyone that Hank was not in the photograph.
As the three are sent around the country to raise money and make speeches, Ira is guilt-ridden, faces discrimination as a Native American, and descends into alcoholism. After he throws up one night in front of General Alexander Vandegrift, commandant of the Marine Corps, he is sent back to his unit and the bond drive continues without him.
![Letter from iwo jima movie in hindi Letter from iwo jima movie in hindi](https://www.filmshowonline.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Letters-from-Iwo-Jima-Official-Trailer.jpg)
After the war, the three survivors return to their homes. Ira still struggles with alcoholism and is never able to escape his unwanted fame. One day after being released from jail, he hitchhikes over 1,300 miles to Texas to see Harlon Block's family. He tells Harlon's father that his son was indeed at the base of the flag in the photograph. In 1954, the USMC War Memorial is dedicated and the three flag raisers see each other one last time. In 1955, Ira dies of exposure after a night of drinking. That same year, Doc drives to the town where Iggy's mother lives to tell her how Iggy died, though it is implied that he does not tell her the truth. Rene attempts a business career, but finds that the opportunities and offers he received during the bond drive are rescinded. He spends the rest of his life as a janitor. Doc, by contrast, is successful, buying a funeral home. In 1994, on his deathbed, he tells his story to his son, James, and in a final flashback to 1945, the men swim in the ocean after raising the flags.
Cast[edit]
- Ryan Phillippe as Pharmacist's Mate Second Class John Bradley, the only one of the six flag raisers who was not a Marine
- George Grizzard as Older John Bradley
- Jesse Bradford as Corporal Rene Gagnon
- Adam Beach as Corporal Ira Hayes
- John Benjamin Hickey as Gunnery Sergeant Keyes Beech
- Paul Walker as Sergeant Hank Hansen, who helped with the first flag raising and was misidentified as Harlon Block
- John Slattery as Bud Gerber
- Barry Pepper as Sergeant Michael Strank
- Jamie Bell as Private Ralph Ignatowski
- Robert Patrick as Colonel Johnson
- Neal McDonough as Captain Dave Severance
- Harve Presnell as Older Dave Severance
- Melanie Lynskey as Pauline Harnois Gagnon
- Tom McCarthy as James Bradley
- Chris Bauer as General Alexander Vandegrift, the Commandant of the Marine Corps
- Gordon Clapp as General Holland Smith, who led the invasion of Iwo Jima
- Judith Ivey as Belle Block
- Ann Dowd as Mrs. Strank
- Myra Turley as Madeline Evelley
- Jason Gray-Stanford as Lieutenant
- Joseph Michael Cross as Private First Class Franklin Sousley
- Benjamin Walker as Corporal Harlon Block, who was misidentified as Hank Hansen
- Alessandro Mastrobuono as Corporal Chuck Lindberg
- Scott Eastwood as Private Roberto Lundsford
- David Patrick Kelly as President Harry S. Truman
- Jeremiah Kirnberger as Gunners Mate 1st Class
Production[edit]
![Hindi Hindi](https://is2-ssl.mzstatic.com/image/thumb/Music/73/7f/36/mzi.ebvzueno.jpg/268x0w.jpg)
The film rights to the book were purchased by DreamWorks in June 2000.[4] Producer Steven Spielberg brought William Broyles to write the first drafts of the script, before director Clint Eastwood brought Paul Haggis to rewrite.[5] In the process of reading about the Japanese perspective of the war, in particular General Tadamichi Kuribayashi, Eastwood decided to film a companion piece with Letters from Iwo Jima, which was shot entirely in Japanese.[6]Bradley Cooper auditioned for one of the leading roles.[7]Flags of Our Fathers was shot in the course of 58 days.[6]Jared Leto was originally cast as Rene Gagnon but had to back out due to a tour commitment with his band, Thirty Seconds to Mars.[8]
Flags of Our Fathers cost $55 million, although it was originally budgeted at $80 million. Variety subsequently downgraded the price tag to $55 million. Although the film is taken from the American viewpoint of the battle, it was filmed almost entirely in Iceland and Southern California, with a few scenes shot in Chicago. Shooting ended early 2006, before production for Letters from Iwo Jima began in March 2006.
Release[edit]
Critical reception[edit]
The film received positive reviews, with the review tallying website Rotten Tomatoes reporting that 138 out of the 189 reviews they tallied were positive for a score of 73% and a certification of 'fresh'.[9] On Metacritic, the film scored a 79 out of 100 based on 39 reviews, indicating 'Generally favorable reviews.'[10]
The film made the top-10 list of the National Board of Review. Eastwood also earned a Golden Globe nomination for directing. The film was nominated for two Academy Awards — for Best Sound (John T. Reitz, David E. Campbell, Gregg Rudloff, and Walt Martin) and Sound Editing.[11] Film critic Richard Roeper said, 'Clint Eastwood's Flags of Our Fathers stands with the Oscar-winning Unforgiven and Million Dollar Baby as an American masterpiece. It is a searing and powerful work from a 76-year-old artist who remains at the top of his game.. [and] Flags of Our Fathers is a patriotic film in that it honors those who fought in the Pacific, but it is also patriotic because it questions the official version of the truth, and reminds us that superheroes exist only in comic books and cartoon movies.'[12]
Top ten lists[edit]
Flags of Our Fathers was listed on numerous critics' top ten lists for 2006.[13]
- 1st – Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times (tied with Letters from Iwo Jima)
- 1st – Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune
- 1st – Kirk Honeycutt, The Hollywood Reporter
- 1st – Stephen Hunter, The Washington Post
- 2nd – Scott Foundas, L.A. Weekly (tied with Letters from Iwo Jima)
- 3rd – Peter Travers, Rolling Stone (tied with Letters from Iwo Jima)
- 3rd – Shawn Levy, Portland Oregonian (tied with Letters from Iwo Jima)
- 3rd – Jack Matthews, New York Daily News (tied with Letters from Iwo Jima)
- 3rd – Lou Lumenick, New York Post (tied with Letters from Iwo Jima)
- 3rd – Richard Roeper, At the Movies (tied with Letters from Iwo Jima)
- 3rd – Claudia Puig, USA Today
- 4th – William Arnold, Seattle Post-Intelligencer
- 5th – Ray Bennett, The Hollywood Reporter
- 5th – Richard Schickel, Time
- 5th – David Edelstein, Fresh Air (tied with Letters from Iwo Jima)[14]
- 7th – Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times (tied with Letters from Iwo Jima)[15]
- Best of 2006 (listed alphabetically, not ranked) – David Denby, The New Yorker[16]
Box office[edit]
Despite critical acclaim, the film under-performed at the box office, earning just $65,900,249 worldwide on an estimated $90 million production budget. It took in $2.7 million less than its companion film Letters From Iwo Jima, which had a budget of $71 million less (its total budget being $19 million).[17]
Spike Lee controversy[edit]
At the 2008 Cannes Film Festival, director Spike Lee, who was making Miracle at St. Anna, about an all-black U.S. division fighting in Italy during World War II, criticized director Clint Eastwood for not depicting black Marines in Flags of Our Fathers.[18] Citing historical accuracy, Eastwood responded that his film was specifically about the Marines who raised the flag on Mount Suribachi at Iwo Jima, pointing out that while black Marines did fight at Iwo Jima, the U.S. military was segregated during World War II, and none of the men who raised the flag was black. Eastwood believed Lee was using the comments to promote Miracle at St. Anna and angrily said that Lee should 'shut his face'.[18] Lee responded that Eastwood was acting like an 'angry old man', and argued that despite making two Iwo Jima films back to back, Letters from Iwo Jima and Flags of Our Fathers, 'there was not one black Marine in both of those films'.[19][20][21]
Contrary to Lee's claims, however, black Marines (including an all-black unit) are seen in several scenes during which the mission is outlined, as well as during the initial landings, when a wounded black Marine is carried away. During the end credits, historical photographs taken during the Battle of Iwo Jima show black Marines. Although black Marines fought in the battle, they were restricted to auxiliary roles, such as ammunition supply, and were not involved in the battle's major assaults; they did, however, take part in defensive actions.[22] According to Alexander M. Bielakowski and Raffaele Ruggeri, 'Half a million African Americans served overseas during World War II, almost all in segregated second-line units.'[23] The number of African Americans killed in action was 708.[24]
Spielberg later intervened between the two directors, after which Lee sent a copy of a film on which he was working to Eastwood for a private screening as a seeming token of apology.[18]
Home media[edit]
The DVD was released in the United States by DreamWorks Home Entertainment and internationally by Warner Home Video on February 6, 2007. It is devoid of any special features.
A two-disc Special Collector's Edition DVD (with special features) was released on May 22, 2007.[25] It was also released on HD DVD and Blu-ray formats.[26]
The Two-Disc Special Collector's Edition DVD is also available in a five-disc commemorative set that also includes the two-disc Special Collector's Edition of Letters from Iwo Jima and a bonus fifth disc containing History Channel's Heroes of Iwo Jima documentary and To the Shores of Iwo Jima, a documentary produced by the United States Navy and the United States Marine Corps, released by Warner Home Video.[27]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^'FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS (15)'. British Board of Film Classification. October 5, 2006. Archived from the original on October 14, 2015. Retrieved October 12, 2015.
- ^ abFlags of Our Fathers at Box Office Mojo
- ^USMC Statement on Marine Corps Flag RaisersArchived June 24, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, Office of U.S. Marine Corps Communication, 23 June 2016
- ^Fleming, Michael (June 20, 2000). 'Deal for 'Flags' rights raised by DreamWorks'. Variety. Archived from the original on December 25, 2017.
- ^Staff (December 17, 2006). ''Flags of Our Fathers,' William Broyles Jr., Paul Haggis'. Variety. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved March 27, 2015.
- ^ abByrne, Bridge (January 25, 2006). 'Eastwood makes war'. Variety. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved March 27, 2015.
- ^Lynn Hirschberg (January 9, 2014). 'The Agony and the Ecstasy'. W. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved April 2, 2015.
- ^Jeff LaBrecque (January 17, 2015). 'Jared Leto: Heartthrob, Rock Star, Oscar Contender?'. Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved April 2, 2015.
- ^'Flags of Our Fathers (2006)'. Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on January 21, 2007. Retrieved January 21, 2007.
- ^'Flags of Our Fathers'. Metacritic. Archived from the original on November 14, 2012.
- ^'The 79th Academy Awards (2007) Nominees and Winners'. oscars.org. Archived from the original on April 14, 2014. Retrieved November 20, 2011.
- ^Roeper, Richard (October 20, 2006). 'Grand old 'Flags''. Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on February 24, 2009. Retrieved July 5, 2009.
- ^'Metacritic: 2006 Film Critic Top Ten Lists'. archive.org. December 13, 2007. Archived from the original on December 13, 2007.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
- ^'The Year in Movies: The Best of 2006'. npr.org. Archived from the original on March 11, 2018.
- ^Ebert, Roger. 'The best movies of 2006 - Roger Ebert's Journal - Roger Ebert'. www.rogerebert.com. Archived from the original on March 11, 2018.
- ^Denby, David (December 11, 2006). 'Memorable Movies of 2006'. Archived from the original on July 2, 2017 – via www.newyorker.com.
- ^'Letters from Iwo Jima'. Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on June 18, 2009. Retrieved July 5, 2009.
- ^ abcEliot (2009), p.322-323
- ^Marikar, Sheila (June 6, 2008). 'Spike Strikes Back: Clint's 'an Angry Old Man''. ABC. Retrieved July 5, 2009.
- ^'Eastwood hits back at Lee claims'. BBC News. June 6, 2008. Archived from the original on March 23, 2009. Retrieved July 5, 2009.
- ^Lyman, Eric J. (May 21, 2008). 'Lee calls out Eastwood, Coens over casting'. The Hollywood Reporter, The Daily from Cannes. Cannes (8): 3, 24. Archived from the original on June 18, 2008.
- ^'MONTFORD POINT MARINES'. Mpma28.com. Archived from the original on November 11, 2005. Retrieved July 5, 2009.
- ^'African American Troops in World War II'. Alexander M. Bielakowski, Raffaele Ruggeri (2005). p.4. ISBN1-84603-072-2
- ^Michael Clodfelter. Warfare and Armed Conflicts- A Statistical Reference to Casualty and Other Figures, 1500-2000. 2nd Ed. 2002 ISBN0-7864-1204-6.
- ^'Flags of Our Fathers'. May 22, 2007 – via Amazon.
- ^'Flags of Our Fathers'. June 3, 2008 – via Amazon.
- ^'Letters from Iwo Jima / Flags of Our Fathers'. May 22, 2007 – via Amazon.
Bibliography[edit]
- Eliot, Marc (2009). American Rebel: The Life of Clint Eastwood. Harmony Books. ISBN978-0-307-33688-0.
External links[edit]
Wikiquote has quotations related to: Flags of Our Fathers (film) |
- Official website[dead link]
- Flags of Our Fathers on IMDb
- Flags of Our Fathers at Rotten Tomatoes
- Flags of Our Fathers at Metacritic
“Letters From Iwo Jima” represents something rare in the history of war movies — a case of a filmmaker from one country sympathetically telling a combat story from the perspective of a former enemy. The second installment in Clint Eastwood’s ambitious and enterprising account of one of the Pacific war’s most ferocious conflicts, the film is the stylistic twin of “Flags of Our Fathers” but different in feel due to its intimacy, concentrated focus and, inevitably, the nature of its Japanese military characters. Well received at its premiere in Japan, where it opens Dec. 9, this piercing, astutely judged picture faces limited commercial prospects due to its Japanese-language dialogue alone. But after the more respectful than passionate critical response to “Flags,” which has fallen short of B.O. expectations, “Letters” may well fire Eastwood’s many partisans with renewed vigor, spelling sustained biz on select screens.
“All Quiet on the Western Front” was about Germans in World War I, but from a pacifist p.o.v.; “Tora! Tora! Tora!” included the Japanese angle on Pearl Harbor; the central characters in “The Blue Max” and “Cross of Iron” were Germans. Scattered other examples certainly exist. All the same, there are few moments in Hollywood cinema of any era as oddly unsettling as the one here, in which an American Marine charges toward the protagonists and is so manifestly perceived as the enemy.
That unfortunate young man is bayonetted to death by his Japanese captors. But the film’s true intent comes across the second time a Yank is nabbed by the doomed members of the Imperial Army, when the injured grunt movingly establishes an unlikely bond with his aristocratic Japanese interrogator. There were compelling reasons why the war was fought, but the unusual focus of “Letters” is the humanity of the Japanese soldiers who longed for home just like anyone else, knowing they would never leave the tiny strip of land alive.
Naturally, U.S. war films of the era painted the Japanese as the most maniacal and barbaric of fighters, and many veterans and historians, Americans, Chinese and others, insist this was true. Pic might have done well to mention the emperor’s endorsement of the “Death Before Surrender” edict of early 1945. But “Letters” makes the case that even the Japanese were divided among themselves.
“There’s nothing sacred about this island,” says one heretical conscript. “The Americans can have it.” The official line was that the invaders were weak-willed and undisciplined, but two of the top Japanese officers depicted here had spent time in the U.S. before the war, liked the country and had friends there. To echo the primary theme of “Flags,” nothing is as clear-cut as it seems; the situation is never as black-and-white as any side’s propaganda would have it.Considered from the Japanese angle, Iwo Jima resembles the Alamo, a futile if heroic last stand against an enemy force too overwhelming to withstand, although withstand it they did, for much longer than their opponents imagined possible.
Elegantly but with dramatic bite, Eastwood unfolds the story of some of the men who put up the resilient fight, emphasizing the way their personalities were expressed through crisis rather than ideology or stock notions of bravery and heroics. Screenplay by first-timer Iris Yamashita, a Japanese-American who worked out the story with “Flags” scenarist Paul Haggis, maintains an intimate focus within a grand context, and is based on sentiments expressed in long-dead soldiers’ letters seen at the outset being dug up on Iwo Jima.
Initial stretch provides an opportunity to paint a more detailed portrait than “Flags” could of the desolation of the 5 mile by 2½-mile strip of black volcanic rock and sand. In the wilting summer before the invasion, the assembled Japanese troops were scraping by with no resources. Rescuing them from torpor and the savage punishments of severe officers is Lt. General Tadamichi Kuribayashi (Ken Watanabe), the impressive former chief of the Imperial Guard sent to prepare the island for the anticipated American assault.
Within the limits of a tradition defined by loyalty and obedience, Kuribayashi is his own man. Taking the measure of the inhospitable bit of real estate on extensive walks, he undercuts by-the-book officers, to their fury, and soon has a weary, ineffectual admiral sent home. Whereas the Japanese customarily believed in beachhead defenses, the new general orders the construction of miles of tunnels and caves from which his 20,000 men can most advantageously battle the arriving Americans.
Kuribayashi quickly befriends the dashing Baron Nishi (Tsuyoshi Ihara), an aristocrat with a meager supply of Johnnie Walker. The shared scotch serves as a reminder of the America they both know personally; Kuribayashi was there as a student and young officer, Nishi as an equestrian at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics. Their quiet moments to converse are privileged ones, especially in light of what lies ahead.
At the opposite end of the hierarchy are Saigo (Kazunari Ninomiya), a simple baker and mildly impudent everyman who longs only to see his infant daughter, and the sensitive Shimizu (Ryo Kase), whose shortcomings as an MP have earned him this lamentable posting. With rabid exceptions, the Japanese here are dedicated, ready to kill the enemy and resigned to whatever their fates may be, even as they may have mixed minds about fighting and mostly wish they were somewhere else.
Their hideaways secure, the men wait and wait some more. Suffering from centipedes, a steady diet of weed soup and bad water, one soldier quips, “We’ll be dead before the Americans get here.” And there’s nothing but bad news from the outside world, as their navy is wiped out and hoped-for reserves won’t be arriving after all. Finally, with the U.S. fleet on its way from Saipan, Kuribayashi levels with his men: They should not expect to survive, but must each endeavor to kill at least 10 of the enemy before dying themselves.
Battle commences an hour in, and the general’s tactics immediately prove their worth, as the Americans sustain heavy losses as they swarm the beach. But in a particularly disturbing interlude, in one cave a group of ultra-traditionalists decide to “die with honor.”
In due course, Mount Suribachi is taken, and this time Eastwood hauntingly offers the historic flag-raising from the Japanese perspective at the opposite end of the island. With troops separated in different locations, a festering split in the Japanese command bursts, and one particularly fanatical officer, Lt. Ito (Shidou Nakamura), goes his own way in defiance of Kuribayashi. Deterioration of the Japanese position is slow but inevitable.
An artier,more impressionistic approach might have emphasized the unbearable psychological pressure induced by prolonged confinement, deprivation and bombardment. The claustrophobic element is obviously mandatory, but Eastwood allows the film to breathe by moving the action around in space and time, combined with the engaging characters who occupy centerstage.
A man of his time but with a refinement that suggests an earlier era, Kuribayashi is the sort of man any army would want to have in charge. In Watanabe’s beautifully nuanced performance, he is smart, cunning and imaginative, always several steps ahead in his thinking and therefore never ruffled. His composure in the face of certain doom is remarkable, his fate an expression of both his love of country and his broader sense of himself as a man of honor and arms.
Ihara is a treat as the bon vivant whose sense of style isn’t impaired even by hell on earth, while Kazunari offers a lively, easily accessible commoner whose emotions are simple and direct.
Due partly to the preponderance of dark interiors, “Letters” seems even more like a black-and-white film than did “Flags,” the color in Tom Stern’s strongly composed lensing drained nearly to the vanishing point. One panoramic shot of the American fleet aside, CGI work seems minimal here, as a bit of location footage from the island itself has b
een discreetly amplified by stand-in landscapes shot in California, with a little work in Japan to top it off. The superbly varied interiors represent the final work of the late, great production designer Henry Bumstead, along with James J. Murakami. Regular Eastwood editor Joel Cox was here partnered with Gary D. Roach. Spare score this time was composed not by the director, but by son Kyle Eastwood and Michael Stevens.
Possibly the one thing missing from this microcosmic look at an epochal battle is the bigger picture, a sense of the staggering slaughter that took place over a six-week period at a cost of 26,000 lives. “Flags” imparted something of an idea of this, although not in its totality and certainly not for the Japanese, of whom only 216 survived. Taken together, “Flags” and “Letters” represent a genuinely imposing achievement, one that looks at war unflinchingly — that does not deny its necessity but above all laments the human loss it entails.
(141mins, 15) Directed by Clint Eastwood; starring Ken Watanabe, Kazunari Ninomiya, Tsuyoshi Ihara, Ryo Kase, Shido Nakamura
Clint Eastwood's account of the 1945 battle for Iwo Jima from the viewpoint of the Japanese defenders complements Flags of Our Fathers, his film about the American invaders and the way the iconic photography of Old Glory being raised on Mount Suribachi was exploited for patriotic ends in the States. It isn't the first movie about the war in the Pacific to be made in Japanese and directed by an American. That was the bizarre Saga of Anatahan, the true story of Japanese sailors shipwrecked in 1944 on a remote island and holding out for seven years, refusing to believe Japan had lost the war. Made in 1953 by Josef von Sternberg on sets in a Japanese studio, it received limited distribution and is rarely revived.
Both Eastwood pictures are masterpieces of humanist cinema, forming a magnificent diptych. They're about glory and heroism and bring into question both concepts, centring on a bloody, costly battle for a barren, waterless island of rock and black volcanic sand that happens to be part of the Japanese empire. Letters is framed by the discovery of a cache of letters hidden in 1945 and exhumed 60 years later. They symbolise the burial and retrieval of the past, one of the film's subjects, and as they float down at the end, slow motion is used for the only time.
Letters From Iwo Jima Full Movie English
Unlike Flags of Our Fathers, which centres on the experience of three US soldiers who participated in the flag-raising, Letters pays equal attention to General Kuribayashi (a towering performance from Ken Watanabe) and his staff and to several lowly conscripts, most notably Private Saigo (Kazunari Ninomiya), a baker in civilian life. Both men are realists, aware that defeat is imminent. But the general, a concerned leader and professional soldier, knows that honour dictates that he must die, while the private is determined to see his wife and baby daughter again.
The film opens with Kuribayashi's arrival, his disgust at the lack of co-operation between the services, the foolish conduct of zealots and the unimaginative plans of defence. Instead of meeting the inevitable invasion on the beaches, he builds a labyrinth of tunnels in which his army lives like burrowing animals. As a result, the battle is extended from the three days anticipated by the Americans to more than a month.
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The movie is doom-laden and non-triumphalist, with a plangent score co-written by Eastwood's son Kyle, and characteristically dark cinematography. The flashbacks to Japan involving Saigo and a former military policeman, who's been dispatched to the front line as a punishment for an act of kindness, do not reflect happier times. They show the madness of war fever on the home front.
Kuribayashi's flashbacks to when he studied with the US army in the late 1920s are brightly lit to express his love of the States and the hopes he had for harmonious relations between Japan and America. A major symbol is the pearl-handled 1911 Colt pistol he's given by American colleagues as a farewell present at Fort Bliss, New Mexico. His troops believe he's taken it from a US soldier he's killed and it ends up as a souvenir in the possession of a GI.
The battle scenes are brilliantly handled, and what we best remember are moments of horror: a mass suicide of trapped soldiers killing themselves with hand grenades, for instance, and matching scenes of an injured American being bayoneted by his Japanese captors and two Americans casually killing a pair of Japanese POWs. Yet there are also moments of kindness and dignity as when the general plans for the baker's survival, and a moving encounter between Baron Nishi, the Japanese equestrian star who won a gold medal at the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles, and a dying marine he saves from his angry men.
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The film is based on a scenario by Paul Haggis, who co-scripted Flags of Our Fathers and won an Oscar for Million Dollar Baby, but the carefully organised screenplay is the work of Japanese-American writer Iris Yamashita, a discovery of Haggis's. It is a fine piece of work, though there are inevitably numerous scenes and incidents familiar from other pictures. Indeed the war movie, whatever its setting, is part of a genre that has its roots in the Trojan War. The film it most brings to my mind is John Ford's poetic, beautifully understated They Were Expendable, released just after the end of the Second World War, and also a case of victory in defeat, in that case of US sailors fighting a rearguard action during the Japanese invasion of the Philippines in 1942. Both raise our respect for the human spirit and enhance our understanding of what it means to live and to die.