Letters from Iwo Jima

Well Clint is coming out with another almost sequel to Flags which is Letters from Iwo Jima, I watched an interview on A&E the other day for the movie. Clint wants people to see the other side of war, so to speak. To represent the fact that our enemies "weren't animals". Based on letters from one of the Japanese soldiers on the island it is supposed to be very accurate to the actual story. Looking forward to this one. Interested to see what Clint does with it.

 

Definitely. I have been waiting for this one to come out.

 

I agree. I read about it and sounded very interesting. Perhaps similar to Italy's "El Alamein"? It would be worth watching though. Not many films from the Japanese perspective.

 

Are there any from the Japanese perspective?

 

Hmmm. good question.

 

I definetly haven't heard of any and that is probably due to the worldview of the Japanese at that time. They weren't exactly the nicest "Hollywood stars" at the time. This will be exceptional though if done correctly.

 

man, that movie was great! a lil' weird hearin' the americans being called the "enemy" lol

 

I saw them both, and liked both about the same. Neither had as much action as I expected. Flags had too much "Chief" (Ira) in it, more about him than Iwo.
Letters had a bit more reality to it IMO, and more about Iwo and less about the trials and tribulations of one man/ (bond tour).
No hope of help or victory, only the certainty of death by one side, or the other, or yourself.

 

I went to see Letters from Iwo Jima for the first time and I thought it was superb. A very well done film and and the amount of reality to it ranks up there with Band of Brothers. I enjoyed this movie a lot more then the previous movie, Flags of Our Fathers. I think Clint Eastwood did the Japanese point of view very well and is worthy of being the first, (I think) movie from the Japanese side.

I am definitely going back to see it again and can't wait for the DVD release. I was hoping Flags of Our Fathers would be good, but as Skunk said, the amount of focus that they put on Ira and the war drive and not as much on Iwo was quite disappointing.

The only thing that disappointed me slightly was the whole movie was reading subtitles, I support this though for it adds even more authenticity to the movie.

Two thumbs up!

 

I saw this movie today, and I really liked it. I also appreciated that this movie concentrated a bit more on the battle itself than on sideplots, like in "Flags...". The battle scenes could have been bigger and longer, though. The landing scene, where the fighting got started, ended very abruptly and way too soon in my opinion. Restricted budget perhaps? However, the film seemed realistic and focused on the essentials. Clint lived up to his name once again

 

Anyone know when this one is comming out on DVD? I didn't get a chance to watch it in the theaters due to it's limited release.

 

its out now, I just watched it.


Hm, what to say about this movie.

I liked it better than I liked Flags of our Fathers. It was a decent movie, perhaps a bit too easy on the Japanese. But I forgive the "humane" take on the Japanese because that humanity is relatively restricted to the main characters of the movie, whilst the others are the deranged fanatic Japanese that made up the large bulk of the Empire's soldiers


I'd watch it again, but its no classic. That said, it is very good to see a movie that shows the Japanese side. Tora Tora Tora is the only other movie that comes to mind which does that

 

I thought the film did a good job of capturing the Japanese sense of honor, sentimentality and patriotism. Also, the sense of doom and duty.

Later

 

I compare this movie to that of 'Pearl Harbor'. It seems the focus was not on the actual battle but of the stories of the men who were there as written in the letters found. Looking at it from the perspective, I think it was a very good movie. We do not see many movies about the Japanese soldier from the Japanese perspective. German movies have been out since the 80's and looks like now the Japanese will be joining in. Clint Eastwood did a better job on this one than with 'Flags' in my opinion. But I agree, no real war classic here. Just a good film.

 

Aw heck, I think im going to finally break down and rent this movie. I have a NEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEED to see it.

 

I think that Letters from Iwo Jima was a pretty good movie from a cinematic standpoint but I wasn't too pleased with the message. Letters was very apologetic toward the Japanese and quite the opposite towards the US Marines. We see the Marines at two points in the movie. The first time we see a Marine is when he is wounded and captured by the Japanese. He is treated extremely well by his captor, something I've never heard of taking place when US servicemen were captured by Japanese. I guess what they did to Ralph Ignatowski on Iwo was an exception right? The next time we see Marines in the movie, they are guarding two Jap POWs and the Marines decide to shoot them. Now what kind of picture was Eastwood trying to paint here? The Marine was treated kindly when captured by the Japanese but the Japanese were executed when captrued by the Marines. Who is Eastwood saying the good guys were? Eastwood's anti-war sentiment is also very evident throughout both Letters from Iwo Jima and Flag's of Our Fathers.

 

I think Clint Eastwood was trying to show that not everything was black and white like they ususally make war movies to be. He showed the one Japanese man who was a baker before being drafted was less than thrilled about being drafted and also being put out of business by the military police. He also showed he was less than thrilled about putting a grenede to his head in the cave when all the others did so. The two that escaped the cave almost got their heads chopped off by their own people but were saved by the same commander who saved the Marine. There really were times when US Forces killed and abused captives both in the Pacific and Europe. The Allies were not always good guys in white hats.

When Greg Boyington was captured by a Japanese submarine, he said he was treated well. It was not until he was put ashoure and the army got him did the abuse begin.

I think the message of the movie was that war is such a waste, no matter who's side you are on. Das Boat gave me the same type of feeling. Why do thousands of young men get hurt and killed for old men and their stupid ideas on how the map should look. If that is anti-war then I am anti-war and proud of it ! You sound like your user names part in the movie thinking war is great just for the sake of having a war.

Ok I am off my soap box. I thought it was a good movie. :chainsaw:

 

The Pacific Theater was brutal. Usually, there was no quarter given. But the Japanese certainly weren't the good guys.

If his message is that "war is a waste," then that is an insult to American (and Allied) servicemen who gave their lives so that others may be free. They did not die in vein and their sacrifice was not a waste.

 

Clint Eastwood may be many things, but he's not anti-patriotic. Flags of our Fathers shows very well the respect he's got for the men who fought and died, the real ones, not the propaganda super-heroes.

But he's not shy about denouncing the brutality and futility of war. It doesn't matter if WWII was the closest thing to a fair war (if there can ever be such thing), it was a war nonetheless, where people got killed, brutally or not, on both sides. Eastwood shows in these two films that people, no matter what, have dignity, feelings, and get involved into the reckless spiral of war, which brings the worst and best of people. The suffering of actual people is what is futile, a waste.

Being anti-war is not being a naïve pacifist. It's despising all what war means, despite accepting it's some times inevitable and even necessary. Clint Eastwood is an anti-war man, and so I am.

 

Still have not seen it--tried to rent a copy yesterday but, every rental store I went to; all were rented out. Soooooo I settled for an interesting movie called: The Last Confederate. ;-D