Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)

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 | Battle | Iwo Jima | Japanese Army

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 Geneva) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | 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 | Netherlands:16 | South Africa:16 | France:U (with warning)

Filming Locations:

Iceland

Company:

Amblin Entertainment

Trivia:

The last foreign language film to date to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture (Japanese).

Goofs:

Factual errors: The military transport plane, seen several times, is a Beech C-45 (D-18) and not a Japanese plane.

Quotes:

General Tadamichi Kuribayashi: If our children can live safely for one more day it would be worth the one more day that we defend this island.

Movie Connections:

Featured in The 79th Annual Academy Awards (2007) (TV)

One of the Greatest War Films Ever Made

In the second half of "Letters from Iwo Jima," a group of Japanese soldiers find an American who has been badly wounded and take him into their cave. Their general speaks English, so he begins talking to this soldier, whose name we later find out is Sam. Although the two men should be sworn to kill each other, they are able to have a connection in the one conversation they have. A while later, the general comes back into the room only to discover that Sam's wounds have killed him. He searches him for a while and discovers a letter written by his mother. The letter is full of words that truly come from the heart of this kid's mother, and by the time the general finishes reading the letter, every soldier in that cave has realized that Americans aren't these savages; these hate-driven murderers. No, they all realize that Americans are exactly like they are, and that they don't want to be there and want to return home safely just like their enemies. I believe the point that Clint Eastwood is making with his Iwo Jima saga is just this: these two enemies were far more alike than they had imagined and they were both fighting only in hopes of returning home safely to their family.

As for the specific film itself. In just about every way imaginable, this absolutely brilliant film is a step up from "Flags of our Fathers" (which is not something I say easily, as "Flags" is a terrific film in my opinion). From the acting of the incredible ensemble cast (most notably from Ken Watanabe's Oscar-worthy performance), to the film's delicate but powerful script, to the beautiful imagery of the film (the color distortion could not be any more brilliant than it is here), to Clint Eastwood's absolutely perfect knowledge of film and what works in a film like this.

Many people are wondering whether this will be able to compete for Best Picture at the Oscars this year. It is true that just about all of the film is spoken in Japanese, but the truth is that Eastwood has created nothing short of a masterpiece with this work, and a foreign language doesn't even come close to making that extremely obvious. I think that this film is very comparable in quality to Steven Spielberg's (who is one of the producers of the film) "Saving Private Ryan." Although Spielberg's film has more entertainment value (as it features more action) and has an opening scene that cannot be contended with, Eastwood sends out an even more powerful message about war than Spielberg did, as it turns out that watching soldiers battle with no way out makes you feel the pains of war more than watching the soldiers on the invading side of the army. The fact that "Ryan" was able to strongly compete for Best Picture (and just about win the award) makes me very certain that this film has great chances, even if Martin Scorsese seems to be tough to beat at this point. What I think allows this to compete with "The Departed" is the fact that this film doesn't take the "cool" route that Scorsese took, which isn't something that the Academy has honored in the past.

The score, written by Kyle Eastwood (Clint's son), captures the feel of the movie better than any score written for any movie this year. It is very quiet music, but listening to it makes you think about all the people that die as victims of war.

To sum it all up, "Letters from Iwo Jima" is one of the greatest war films ever made, and is easily does the best job of depicting war as something that harms all involved that I have ever seen. Clint Eastwood has, with this achievement, engraved his name as one of the greatest American directors in film history.