Letters from Iwo Jima

Once when I was doing some research on Japanese war medals I came across this unexpected fact: in 2009 Clint Eastwood was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun (3rd Class), bestowed by Japan’s Emperor Akihito. My immediate reaction was, Huh? What was that all about?Turns out Eastwood was being honored for his highly regarded film, Letters From Iwo Jima (2006), which he directed - and co-produced with Steven Spielberg and Robert Lorenz. It seems that way back in 1875 Japan’s Meiji government created the Rising Sun medal to recognize exemplary deeds, whether military or civilian.But the 1945 Iwo Jima battle was a devastating defeat for Japan. So why would a Japanese emperor honor Eastwood for creating a film which proved the point?Some background.Iwo Jima is an island in the western Pacific located 760 miles southeast of Tokyo. It’s tiny - measuring only about 8 square miles. Iwo’s distinguishing natural features are its black volcanic sand and Mt. Suribachi, a small mountain which played a pivotal role in the Japanese defense plan. The horrific battle for which the island will forever be known was fought from Feb 19 to Mar 26, 1945. During those 35 days of sheer hell 6800 Americans in the attacking force and most of the 21,000 Japanese defenders lost their lives.America was determined to capture Iwo Jima. Japanese warplanes based there had been attacking American bombers on their round trip to the Japanese home islands, along with their bases in the Marianas. These attacks had to be dealt with. Also important, Iwo would provide an emergency air field for American bombers in distress. This was no incidental matter, as Iwo’s air field saved the lives of 24,000 American airmen according to one estimate.Letters From Iwo Jima is based on actual letters from Japanese forces on Iwo to their families back home. Flashbacks to revealing incidents in their past play an equally important role. Excerpts from island commander Tadamichi Kuribayashi down to the lowliest soldier are incorporated in the script. These excerpts and flashbacks present the Japanese soldier in a completely different light from the typical Hollywood stereotype.A great example is Kuribayashi’s letters, which reveal a dedicated husband and father - a gentle human being utterly unlike the ruthless warrior you’d expect to command a desperate battle. One letter is written en route to his new command on Iwo. Kuribayashi apologizes to his wife for not having had time to attend to the kitchen floor, and tells her the problem really should be addressed. This in the face of almost certain death in the impending battle, something Kuribayashi acknowledges when he tells his wife he is determined to give his life for his country.Another example, this time by way of a flashback, comes from way down in the ranks. An Iwo soldier by the name of Shimizu recounts an experience involving his superior officer back home.They were patrolling a residential neighborhood together when they encounter a dog belonging to a mother and her two small children. The animal is barking behind a small fence adjacent to the family’s residence. Sensing an opportunity to test Shimizu’s obedience the officer orders him to shoot the dog. It seems barking might disturb army communications in the area.Shimizu has the dog taken out back. But decency prevails once Shimizu is out of the officer’s sight. He unholsters his gun and shoots into the air, hoping his pistol’s report will fool the officer. The story ends badly for both dog and Shimizu but the takeaway is more Shimizu’s humanity than his superior’s want of it.If you see this picture you will meet Saigo, another sympathetic, low-ranking soldier on Iwo. Saigo had been a humble baker back home in Japan. In another of the film’s many revealing flashbacks the local draft committee shows up at his door. A draft notice is thrust forward. Saigo is stunned. His pregnant wife Hanako is distraught. A woman on the committee who seems in charge is furious at their reaction. Every family has given a husband or son to the cause. Hanako should welcome the prospect of her husband dying for the emperor. “At least you will have a little one to carry on your name” the woman says angrily, looking down at Hanako’s belly. Later when Hanako is alone with her husband she cannot let go her anguish: “None of the men ever come back” she says with great emotion.On Iwo Saigo is a nearly constant presence in the film. But victory isn’t his purpose. Let the Americans have the island, he tells a buddy. Better than breaking your back digging trenches in the sand and digging caves out of volcanic rock. Saigo’s only goal is to come home alive - a solemn promise to his unborn child.Saigo is one of the key characters in this picture. Another is Saigo’s unit commander, Captain Tanida. Tanida is contemptuous of Saigo, who he sees as unpatriotic and unfit. Saigo's lack of interest in the war is transparent, and he can’t shoot worth a damn. Early on we see Tanida beating Saigo for that unpatriotic comment about letting the Americans have Iwo without a fight. The beating stops only when Kuribayashi happens by and admonishes Tanida for beating soldiers when there are few enough as it is. By much later in the film when the Japanese force on Iwo is all but annihilated top commander Kuribayashi has formed a bond with foot soldier Saigo. Several chance encounters explain this otherwise implausible development, which ends up saving Saigo’s life when Kuribayashi keeps him out of the final banzai charge. If it had been up to Tanida, Saigo would have led the charge - with death certain.These key characters play off each other right to the final scene. By film’s end each has become an archetype of his respective character. Saigo is the innocent civilian drafted into a war he doesn’t understand or believe in. Tanida is the consummate warrior, and Kuribayashi stands somewhere in the middle. More on them below.From the Japanese government’s perspective Clint Eastwood’s medal was well deserved. His film dramatized letters that few would ever know about, and turned them into proof that not every Japanese soldier was a Hollywood-style monster. That, the government concluded, was a solid contribution to Japanese-American relations.But was that the entire substance of Letters From Iwo Jima? Eastwood’s film did show that there were Japanese soldiers on Iwo who did not fit the Hollywood stereotype. But the story is a little more complex than that. There is another flashback involving Kuribayashi, years earlier in California. We see him in full dress uniform as guest of honor at a military dinner party. After friendly conversation and smiles all around the host’s wife shatters the bonhomie with a tricky question: what would Kuribayashi do if the United States and Japan ever went to war against each other? Would he follow his own convictions - or those of his country? "Are they not the same"? was Kuribayashi’s immediate reply. So there’s another side to the loving husband and compassionate commander.Kuribayashi's unexpected answer had been hard wired into Japanese warriors for over 800 years. It came straight from the samurai code of honor known in modern times as “bushido”, or way of the warrior. Loyalty, bravery, self-sacrifice (literally), and obedience to one’s lord and master were its core.For two millennia leading up to the 1940s Japan’s ultimate lord and master was the emperor, a divinity descended from the Sun goddess Amaterasu according to Japanese belief. Kuribayashi’s reply to his American friends at that dinner party reflected absolute loyalty and obedience to Emperor Hirohito, in whose name Japan fought the Pacific War.In a different scene Kuribayashi provides another example of bushido. A subordinate officer questions his tunnel-digging strategy in the caves as futile. Kuribayashi is livid. Maybe so. Maybe the entire defense of Iwo is futile. Maybe the entire war is futile. But if the children back home in Japan can live in safety one more day it’s worth the sacrifice of every soldier on Iwo.However, it’s clear that if the epic Pacific struggle produced samurai-like warriors Kuribayashi is not the best example. It is Captain Tanida who best fits that role. He is the unforgiving commander who would unsheathe his sword without hesitation and decapitate a soldier under his command for the slightest offense. In their day samurai could do the same, even with civilians. Tanida is most persuasive as samurai when he commits the classic act of seppuku (ritual suicide) after it is apparent Iwo is lost to the Americans. But he kills himself 20th century style - with a gun to the head instead of a blade in the belly.Kuribayashi and Tanida each fulfill the bushido imperative of self-sacrifice differently. For Tanida the honorable way out was to die by his own hand. For Kuribayashi it was to die by way of an act which served the emperor in an identifiable way. That was accomplished when he led the final banzai charge, which at least held out the prospect of taking some of the enemy with him.After Japan’s defeat on Iwo Jima it would have been clear to all but the most fanatical militarists that the war could not be won. It seemed Japan’s only hope of repelling the coming American invasion of the home islands (before anyone knew about the atomic bomb) was to turn its population into a suicidal kamikaze force. If vast numbers of civilians were willing to die for their emperor they might inflict unacceptably high casualties on American forces. American public opinion might then compel an end to the Pacific War with Japan retaining its sovereignty. But that was not to be.In San Francisco on September 8,1951, six years after its surrender on the U.S. Battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay, Japan signed a peace treaty with the United States and most of the Allied powers. There were a few holdouts, the most important of which was the former Soviet Union, now Russia. To this day Japan and Russia have not signed a treaty formally ending their state of belligerency in World War II.Letters From Iwo Jima is a masterpiece. Acting and directing are brilliant. Casting is inspired, most particularly in the choice of Kazunari Ninomiya as Saigo. There are bloody action scenes in this film but their purpose is clearly to advance our understanding of the characters. Anyone with a general interest in World War II or who is interested in broadening his or her understanding of the Japanese soldier in that cataclysm should see this film. Highly recommended.

As the title implies, many words can be used to describe this movie, including slow (not in a bad way at all), deliberate (in a very good way), contemplative, and more. Fantastic and fascinating also.Letters from Iwo Jima gives those that watch the film the view from the other side of the battle at Iwo Jima, the side that most U.S. citizens (and other persons not of Asian descent) would likely not be aware of. Clint Eastwood did this film as a companion piece to his much lauded film Flags of Our Fathers. Flags is a look at the heroes of Iwo Jima. I won't go into details about that film other than to say once you've seen it you realize that looking at Flags as a film about heroes is not what you wind up left with at the end. Watch that film and you'll know what I'm referring to.Flags was a telling of the U.S. and Allied side of the events that happened on Iwo Jima, but also much more, including a good long look at the lives of the people that were fighters at Iwo Jima once those people had returned to the U.S. mainland. While Flags doesn't demonize the Japanese military that was fighting the U.S. and allied forces at Iwo, it doesn't give any real details into the experiences of the other side.Letters gives us a long look into the Japanese military personnnel that served at Iwo Jima. We get to see how they prepared for the inevitable battle, and how the people on the island faced a destiny they weren't necessarily happy to have to meet. While many U.S. citizens may think of the Japanese soldiers in terms of willing to fight to the death and gladly lay down their lives in honor of their emperor, the soldiers that served at Iwo were not necessarily people that wanted to do that. They had family to think of, had home lives they longed to return to, and had been left with little resources and logistical support as they became the last line of defense against U.S. Naval power on the way to the Japanese homeland.As another reviewer notes in their comments, the vast majority of the dialogue for the soundtrack for this film is in Japanese. Viewers will most likely be watching this film with subtitles on constantly, with those subtitles in U.S. English translating the dialogue and providing the story for those viewers to understand (without having to learn Japanese first ;-) ) Unlike the reviewer that complained about the pacing of the subtitles, I had no issue with how long they were shown on the screen as the conversations flowed. There was plenty of time to read the subtitle and also take in the images that were shown, and the subtitles weren't distracting for me at all.Though this film is a companion to Flags of Our Fathers, personally I believe this is the better film, and I would note that you really don't need to see either film in order to enjoy or appreciate the other. Further, I would have to say that perhaps using the word 'enjoy' here is not quite appropriate. Letters isn't a film that will bring joy for most viewers. It's not a depressing film, but it's also not an uplifting film. It documents, in a documentarian style, the events that happened at Iwo Jima, mostly from the Japanese side, and does so without glorifying or villifying war and it's participants.Letters is, in my opinion, a master work and is well worth owning for me. While it may not be a film that viewers would want to see more than once or twice, it most certainly should be viewed at least once, and somewhat savored for the fine film that it is.One last comment here, relating to the film style used. If you watch the film on HD DVD (or perhaps Blu-ray) you may feel somewhat offput by the grainy feel of the image used in many places on the film. That look is intentional and really seems appropriate (to me) for this film. That look may bother some, but I think it works well as it's used here.

Must watch war film

Great movie!

Letters from Iwo Jima is another master work by Clint Eastwood. I always love the idea of having different perspectives on one thing, and that's what he did with this film, which is paired with Flags of Our Fathers, produced in the same year. Directing one big film isn't an easy job, and Eastwood was able to make two big films somehow. And this film was received better than the other, but I recommend watching the Flags of Our Fathers as well.Eastwood was well aware about that the people in the U.S. were not used to reading subtitles in film, while almost all other countries are used to it. But he wanted to use these excellent actors, and they didn't speak English except Ken Watanabe. And Eastwood wanted to make an authentic Japanese film, which worked. The actors are excellent, especially Kazunari Ninomiya, who played the protagonist Saigo, and Ken Watanabe, who played the commander general Kuribayashi.Both films, Letters of Iwo Jima and Flags of Our Fathers, sends out a poignant silent question to the audience. Who won at this war (or any other wars)?There is a scene that Japanese soldiers realize that people they're fighting against are just like them. It's the realization of the truth. Our ego creates a war. There isn't good vs evil, and it's the ideology created by our egoic minds.They all fought – Japanese and Americans – for the love of their countries. Once majority of us fully realize that, I think we can evolve to better beings. And this film is a hope.Thank you for making this film.

I like the fact they used sub-titles and allowed the japanese to use their own lanuage

本当によく出来た映画。何度も観てしまうので、Blu-rayを買ってしまいました。本編については言わずもがな、文句のつけようのない。よくぞ撮ってくれたクリント・イーストウッドと言いたい。なのでBlu-rayについていたメイキングの感想を。メイキングのインタビューでクリントが言った言葉。「日本国民は改めて彼らに感謝する必要があると思う。勝ったか負けたかなんて関係なく、彼らが犠牲を払ったことで、現在があるという事実にね」この言葉は本当に衝撃だった。この単純な事実を今まで考えたこともなかったから。硫黄島が本土爆撃の拠点にされることを防ぐために、一日でも長く死守しようとした彼ら。アメリカ人やフランス人やイギリス人は、きっと第二次世界大戦で死んだ自国の兵士は英雄だと胸を張って讃えることができるでしょう。でも私たち日本人は、そうすることを許されなかった気がする。何十年も犯罪者のように扱われ、アジアの国々を侵略し、おぞましいことを行った野蛮人だと言われ、日本人は生まれながらにそれを反省し恥じるように強いられてきた気がする。わたしも小学生の頃、図書館で第二次世界大戦のマンガを読んだけれど、日本兵が中国でありとあらゆる野蛮なことをするという内容だったのをよーく覚えてる。トラウマばりに。日本兵の蛮行を書きなぐったようなマンガが小学校の図書館には山ほど置いてあり、すっかり愛国心を奪われたわたしは、そのとき行われていたオリンピックで日本チームを応援する両親に「なぜ日本なんかを応援するのか」と尋ねたほどだった。でもこの映画を観て、このクリントのインタビューを聞いて、胸のつっかえが取れたような気がする。死にゆく兵士達は皆「靖国で会おう！」と言って散っていった。霊も宗教も信じちゃいないけど、彼らが靖国にゆくと信じて逝ったのならば、彼らの魂はきっと靖国にあるのだ。靖国に眠っている彼らのために祈ることの、何がいけない？第二次世界大戦では、日本という国はナチスと同様、確かに『悪』だったかもしれない。でも前線で戦っていた兵士たちは、アメリカ人やフランス人たちと何も変わらない。家族や国のために、恐怖を押し殺して戦って、本土防衛のために死んだ彼らを誇らしく思うことの何がいけない。感謝して何がいけない。今まで『英霊』なんて言葉を発するのは、不謹慎な気がしていたけれど、そんなことを思っていた自分を恥じたいと思った。栗林中将が総攻撃を仕掛ける直前、皆にかけた言葉、「日本が戦に敗れたりと言えど、いつの日か国民が、諸君等の勲功を称え、諸君等の霊に涙し黙祷を捧げる日が必ずや来るであろう」恥ずかしながらわたしは原爆で亡くなった人々へ黙祷をしたことはあっても、彼等を思って黙祷を捧げたことはなかった。靖国に眠る英霊に、日本人なら誰もが感謝しなくてはいけないと思った。気付かせてくれたクリント・イーストウッドにありがとうと言いたい。外国の人たちが当然のように持っている愛国心を、日本人だってちゃんと持つべきだ。

A real and very authentic war film. It will put you off war for ever. This campaign was horrific and shouldn't be forgotten. The film is fiction but based on the real events of Iwo Jima from both sides of the story.

sorry about the one star but its all in japanese language.

A GREAT MOVIE BY CLINT EASTWOOD ABOUT THE UNTOLD STORY OF THE JAPANESE SOLDIERS WHO DEFENDED THEIR HOMELAND DURING WW2.

An Emotional film that captures so much of the true emotions that must have been felt and experienced during the dark times of the second world war.The films centres on Iwo Jima which is an Island of Japan that the USA troops are about to attack, the film centres around the Japanese soldiers as they get ready to take on a far bigger army knowing defeat and death most face them all.The actors are amazing as is the films direction.The film reminded me of the recent film Assembly which is perhaps not as well polished as letters from Iwo Jima, but worth a watch If you enjoyed this  Assembly [2007 ]The HD DVD is as you would expect very good, the only moan is the film has a wasted out colour theme to it (bit arty like the film 300) which didn't allow the HD format to show its true colours. Sound is amazing, the Dolby Digital was clear and bounced out of each speaker which made me duck for cover.It is defiantly worth buying or renting in HD or Standard DVD. Assembly [2007