letters from iwo jima_reviews

8/6/2019 Letters From Iwo Jima_Reviews

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Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/letters_from_iwo_jima/

After bringing the story of the American soldiers who fought in the battle of Iwo Jima

to the screen in his film Flags of Our Fathers, Clint Eastwood offers an equally

thoughtful portrait of the Japanese forces who held the island for 36 days in this

military drama. In 1945, World War II was in its last stages, and U.S. forces wereplanning to take on the Japanese on a small island known as Iwo Jima. While the

island was mostly rock and volcanoes, it was of key strategic value and Japan's

leaders saw the island as the final opportunity to prevent an Allied invasion. Lt.

General Tadamichi Kuribayashi (Ken Watanabe) was put in charge of the forces on

Iwo Jima; Kuribayashi had spent time in the United States and was not eager to take

on the American army, but he also understood his opponents in a way his superiors

did not, and devised an unusual strategy of digging tunnels and deep foxholes that

allowed his troops a tactical advantage over the invading soldiers. While

Kuribayashi's strategy alienated some older officers, it impressed Baron Nishi

(Tsuyoshi Ihara), the son of a wealthy family who had also studied America firsthand

as an athlete at the 1932 Olympics. As Kuribayashi and his men dig in for a battle

they are not certain they can win -- and most have been told they will not survive --

their story is told both by watching their actions and through the letters they write

home to their loved ones, letters that in many cases would not be delivered until

long after they were dead. Among the soldiers manning Japan's last line of defense

are Saigo (Kazunari Ninomiya), a baker sent to Iwo Jima only days before his wife

was to give birth; Shimizu (Ryo Kase), who was sent to Iwo Jima after washing out in

the military police; and Lieutenant Ito (Shidou Nakamura), who has embraced the

notion of "Death Before Surrender" with particular ferocity. Filmed in Japanese with

a primarily Japanese cast, Letters From Iwo Jima was shot in tandem with Flags of

Our Fathers, and the two films were released within two months of one another. ~Mark Deming, Rovi

Source: http://www.reelviews.net/movies/l/letters_iwo.html

Letters from Iwo Jima is a unique American-made war movie for at least two reasons: it depictsthe battle from the perspective of the losers and it represents the United States as the "enemy."Coupled withFlags of Our Fathers,Letters from Iwo Jima provides director Clint Eastwood'scomplete statement about the 1945 Battle of Iwo Jima. AlthoughFlags of Our Fathers deals asmuch with how a photograph from the battle was used as propaganda on the home front as itdoes with the actual combat,Letters from Iwo Jima remains entrenched upon the island fromstart to finish (except for a few character-building flashbacks). In terms of its structure, this is

more what we expect from a war movie than whatFlags of Our Fathers offers. The onlycharacter common to both films is the island's rough terrain.

The movie begins in late 1944, several months before the conflict, with the arrival of GeneralTadamichi Kuribayashi (Ken Watanabe) on Iwo Jima. The Japanese realize this will likely be anAmerican target and they dispatch the general to ready the defenses. To this end, he re-deploysartillery from the beaches to the high ground and commissions a series of tunnels designed toprotect from air attacks and connect various Japanese strong points. His tactics are scoffed at bysome, who see them as cowardly, but applauded by others. As a counterpoint to the General's
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perspective, the movie provides the point-of-view of a common solider, Saigo (pop star KazunariNinomiya), who plays a more important role in events than one might initially suppose.

Although Eastwood does an adequate job of developing the characters into more than paper-thinsoldiers, this isn't a character-based piece, and that limits its effectiveness. The movie fascinatesbecause of the unusual rhythms it imparts to a familiar genre: the war film. The Japanese, for

example, do not in general believe in surrender, so we know from the start that most of thepeople in this movie are going to be dead by the time the end credits roll. Instead of surrender,the Japanese options include suicide attacks and blowing themselves up with grenades. Bothoccur during the course of the movie. This is dying with honor. For many watching the film, theimpulse will be to think "what a waste."

Previous movies about Iwo Jima have presented the Japanese as a faceless, implacable enemy.While they put up a stiff defense, they are not as invulnerable as they have been portrayed to be.They are short on men, food, water, and ammunition, are rejected by the mainland when theyrequest reinforcements, and have no air cover. Much of their communications equipment isbroken so in many cases the General has no way to reach his men in the field. Humanmessengers are unreliable; many never reach their destinations. The army is also rife with

mutinous thoughts. Some sub-commanders, thinking Kuribayashi to be weak and pro-American(he spent time in the United States and is friendly with some American officers), ignore hisorders to fall back and instead commit suicidal frontal attacks. In the end, the Japanese arealmost wiped out, but they take a surprisingly large number of Americans with them. To thedegree that Iwo Jima is costly to the United States, it is the result of Kuribayashi's strategies. Hadhe not been hampered by poor communications and recalcitrant officers, he might have donemore damage.

Eastwood makes some interesting stylistic choices. Most of the movie is shot in near black-and-white. Occasional muted flashes of color can be observed, especially when there are explosionsbut, for the most part, the movie is monochromatic. This may be intended as an homage to olderWorld War II movies or it may be an attempt at a pseudo-documentary approach. The battle

sequences are effectively presented with good CGI and lots of explosions. There's plenty of gore,although the movie is less visceral than its companion piece. In Flags of Our Fathers, Eastwoodseems influenced by Saving Private Ryan. His approach toLetters from Iwo Jima is less bloody.(The black-and-white also defuses the impact of the viscera.) Actually, the movies doesn't showa lot of detailed battle action; it stays with the characters, many of whom don't see a lot of action.

The only actor likely to be familiar to American audiences is Ken Watanabe, who is perhaps bestknown from The Last Samurai. Watanabe exudes a calm, confident aura - perfect for a generalwho understands he will not survive this mission and has made peace with that fact. He has a jobto do and intends to do it to the best of his ability. Before leaving his wife, he makes sure hisaffairs are in order. Oddly, the thing that worries him the most is not dying on Iwo Jima, butwhether the kitchen floor will be finished. Watanabe's performance places Kuribayashi in goodcompany amidst a large group of brilliant, effective cinematic generals whose on-screenportrayals don't overly exaggerate reality.

Another performer worth singling out is Kazunari Ninomiya, a popular Japanese singing star.Saigo is as far from the stereotype as any character in the film. American movies about WorldWar II demonize the Germans and Japanese. Saigo, however, is just an ordinary guy who thinksthe battles are pointless and wants to go home to be with his wife and newborn daughter.Ninomiya's performance brings out the human qualities of Saigo, making viewers reflect abouthow powerless the pawns are in any war.
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Of the 100,000 U.S. troops that participated in the battle of Iwo Jima, nearly 7000 died and20,000 were injured. The Japanese defenders numbered around 20,000 and only 1000 survived.Iwo Jima, because of its timing and publicity value more than its strategic importance, becameone of the Pacific Theater's best known conflicts. With his two 2006 movies, Flags of OurFathers andLetters from Iwo Jima, Eastwood has stripped away some of the misconceptionsabout the battle and provided new perspectives. Taken together, the films offer an imperfect butinteresting interpretation of history. Of the two, the more straightforward and better focusedLetters from Iwo Jima is the stronger movie.

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