Stars: Ken Watanabe

Director: Clint Eastwood

Summary:

Clint Eastwood revisits familiar territory with LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA, a companion piece to his critically-acclaimed World War II drama FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS. Where the two films differ is in their version of events; FLAGS... is told from a predominantly American point-of-view, whereas LETTERS… offers the Japanese perspective. With American forces on their way, General Kuribayashi (Ken Watanabe, THE LAST SAMURAI) arrives on the island to find his troops woefully under-trained and hopelessly outnumbered. With no sign of reinforcements, these men have little chance of surviving the imminent onslaught. At one point, Saigo (Japanese pop and television star Kazunari Ninomiya), a young soldier shovelling trenches asks, ‘Am I digging my own grave?’ Indeed, it is he and General Kuribayashi who provide the emotional centre of the film, giving a glimpse into the minds of both drafted novices and seasoned officers. Eastwood doesn’t deal in simple heroes and villains; these characters are sympathetic and real, whether their motives are pride, fear, or loyalty to their country. As you’d expect from Eastwood, the battle scenes are breathtaking and brutal, but it’s the actors who are at the core of the film. Tom Stern’s cinematography is equally impressive; his palette of taupes and greys create a desolate volcanic landscape that’s hell on earth for the stationed soldiers but starkly beautiful for the audience. LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA has all the standard tropes found in modern war films-- the abuse of power, gruesome battle scenes, etc.--but Eastwood goes beyond the war-movie boilerplate, delivering a film that finds humanity even in the inhumanity of war.

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Critically hailed as an instant classic, Clint Eastwood's Letters from Iwo Jima is a masterwork of uncommon humanity and a harrowing, unforgettable indictment of the horrors of war. In an unprecedented demonstration of worldly citizenship, Eastwood (from a spare, tightly focused screenplay by first-time screenwriter Iris Yamashita) has crafted a truly Japanese film, with Japanese dialogue (with subtitles) and filmed in a contemplative Japanese style, serving as both complement and counterpoint to Eastwood's previously released companion film Flags of Our Fathers. Where the earlier film employed a complex non-linear structure and epic-scale production values to dramatise one of the bloodiest battles of World War II and its traumatic impact on American soldiers, Letters reveals the battle of Iwo Jima from the tunnel- and cave-dwelling perspective of the Japanese, hopelessly outnumbered, deprived of reinforcements, and doomed to die in inevitable defeat.

While maintaining many of the traditions of the conventional war drama, Eastwood extends his sympathetic touch to humanise "the enemy," revealing the internal and external conflicts of soldiers and officers alike, forced by circumstance to sacrifice themselves or defend their honour against insurmountable odds. From the weary reluctance of a young recruit named Saigo (Kazunari Ninomiya) to the dignified yet desperately anguished strategy of Japanese commander Tadamichi Kuribayashi (played by Oscar-nominated The Last Samurai costar Ken Watanabe), whose letters home inspired the film's title and present-day framing device, Letters from Iwo Jima (which conveys the bleakness of battle through a near-total absence of colour) steadfastly avoids the glorification of war while paying honorable tribute to ill-fated men who can only dream of the comforts of home. --Jeff Shannon

Main Language:	Japanese
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	Interactive menu
Year:	2006
Release Date:	July 9, 2007
Runtime:	135 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	D Y 14666
Keywords:	War, Iwo, Letters, From, Japanese, Jima
Genre:	War