Letters from Iwo Jima Movie Movie Reviews

There are movies which you see and enjoy, and there are movies which cease to be a movie, they become a powerful experience, which affects you deeply. Letters from Iwo Jima, is such a movie. It is director Clint Eastwood's second one on Battle of Iwo Jima after his Flags of our Fathers( check my earlier review on that). Most of the movie is in Japanese, so if you are watching this on DVD check for subtitles. The movie deals with the Battle of Iwo Jima, one of the fiercest battles of WW2.

Though the Americans ultimat\ely won the battle, they had to overcome 35 days of  fierce resistance from Japanese, and loss of more than 6000 soldiers.  The movie starts off with Japanese archaelogists exploring the tunnels built on island of Iwo Jima and finding a series of letters. And cuts into flashback mode to the year 1944.  The movie tells the battle from perspective of  Private Saigo( Japanese pop music star Kazunari Ninomiya),a baker who has been conscripted into the Japanese Imperial Army, and he is grudgingly digging trenches on the island. As he curses for digging the trenches, and wonders why they dont hand it over to the Americans, he is beaten up by his overseer for making unpatriotic speeches.  Fortunately the arrival of  Lt.Gen Tadamichi Kuribayashi( Ken Watanabe), who fortunately does not believe in the rough neck methods of his fellow Japanese officers saves his life.

While  Kuribayashi is patriotic and ready to give his life for the country, he however hates the fanatic and hot headed behaviour of his co Japanese officers. Kuribayashi shares company with Lt.Col Takeishi Nishi(Tsuyoshi Ihara),who shares his views. However Kuribayashi's humane outlook and his strategy of defending the inland instead of the beaches, does not find favor with his more fanatical senior officers. He also advises them not to waste time defending the beaches, and hold poisition inland. Apart from the battle, the poor sanitary conditions also take their toll, with many troops dying of dysentery. The battle begins with the American troops bombarding the island aerially and the beach defenses are quickly overcome.

The commander at Mt.Suribachi orders his men to commit suicide, however Kuribayashi, feels rather than wasting men, it is better to order a tactical retreat to the north of the island. There is also another Private Shimizu, who is suspected of being a spy. When  Saigo and Shimizu, retreat inland, they are accused of being deserters and about to be beheaded, when again Kuribayashi saves them saying he ordered the retreat. Watch the rest of the movie, to see how the Japanese fight till the last  to save their island.

Right from the starting scene when the archaelogists discover the letters to the climax scene, when the voices of the soldiers come out from the letters, the movie is a masterpiece. Director Clint Eastwood, surprasses his earlier ventures, crafting each scene so wonderfully. Every scene, every character perfectly fits into the frame. Clint Eastwood offers a rare insight into the Japanese Army, and we see ordinary people caught in a war beyond their making.

Lt. Gen Kuribayashi is the most memorable character in the movie, reminding us of Karna, in Mahabharat, a right man in the wrong place. He is a true hero, a patriot fiercely loyal to his country, some one who is ready to die for it. Yet he does not suffer from the fanaticism of his more hot headed colleagues. He disapproves of the inhuman treatment to which soldiers are meted out, as in the scene when he asks the overseer who is beating Saigo "Are we having so many soldiers, that we can afford to put two out of comission?".  Saigo is another memorable character, representing the ordinary man, forcibly drafted into the conflict. He has left behind his pregnant wife and just wants to finish the war, and go back. He really wonders why so much conflict on a totally barren island. Shimizu is another character, suspected of being a spy, but in reality he was discharged from the Kempeitai, the Japanese military police, as he refused to obey a superior.

It is these characters which makes Letters from Iwo Jima, such a memorable movie. We see the Japanese soldiers as just another bunch of ordinary people, caught in a conflict. And yet we also see some of the unsavory aspects, the hierarchy, their fanaticism and their suicidal tendency. One of the most hard hitting scenes in the movie, is when the unit, knowing very well that they have lost the battle, and it is all over commit suicide one by one in the cave. And that scene just hits you square in the face. When one of the Japanese soldiers suggest a way to escape, he is shouted down saying "Escape is only for cowards".   Japanese soldiers had this idea that it was to better to die with honor, rather than be captured. And that comes from their Samurai legacy.

The movie also looks at the human side. During an attack, Nishi, reads a letter a dead US marine receives from his mother, and totally breaks down, indicating how human relations are stronger than war. One of the most powerful anti war statements that scene is. As we see the Japanese soldiers fighting and dying to the last, our heart goes out to them. But none more so than the tragic hero Kuribayashi, trust me you will find it hard not to be moved by this man, as you wonder why such a noble soul, was wasted in such a senseless conflict. The background music also wonderfully adds to the movies tragic tone.

The movie is also helped by some superlative performances from the cast.  Ken Watanabe, who appeared in  some Hollywood movies like The Last Samurai and Batman Begins, delivers a performance, that is outstanding. As a patriotic general, as  a person who stands up for his troops, as a man who believes in the human treatment of soldiers, he brings, strength, honor, dignity to his role. He makes you feel for his character at every inch, truly one of the greatest performances of all time. The next best performance is by  Japnese pop singer Kazunari Ninomiya as Private Saigo, who showcase the plight of an ordinary man, caught in the war, brilliantly. Totally natural and effortless, he makes you root for his character at every stage. Good performances also come from Takeichi Nishi as Tsuyoshin Ihara and Ryo Kase as Shimizu.

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I have recently watched a movie titled ‘Letters from Iwo Jima’. It’s a war film made from Japanese perspective of a World War II event. I generally don’t like to watch war films but this one was directed by Clint Eastwood and that pulled me towards it. I do realize now the effect reputation has on people! It’s a Japanese language film with English subtitles so… watchable. It shows the human aspect of war.

The movie starts with a team of archaeologists visiting a very small island ‘Iwo Jima’. They are excavating and find something useful. They try digging it out and the movie enters flashback. The scenes in the movie are brilliantly shot and so are the Japanese actors. Coming back to the story… we enter into a flashback straight into 1944 just at the end of the war. Saigo, a baker and his friend who are forcefully inducted into the Japanese imperial army like many others are digging trenches on the beach. They do their work grudgingly. They are annoyed by the war and are talking to each other.

They speak against the army and about the uselessness of protecting the island which in any case was to fall in American hands. Their supervisor overhears them and the scene is worth watching where they protect each other by lying and the supervisor leaves. General Kuribayashi arrives and takes command of the garrison. He inspects the island thoroughly and decides to stop digging on the beach and to dig tunnels instead into Mount Suribachi. Everyone thinks of it as a wrong move. But he warns them not to underestimate the American warfare technology and says it is far superior to theirs as he has just returned from there recently. Kuribayashi walks along the beach and sees the supervisor spanking the two soldiers and calls them traitors. The reason is given on asked that they were speaking against the country and the war.

Kuribayashi: “Do you have many soldiers with u?”

Supervisor: “No Sir. infact, they are less than required ”

Kuribayashi: “Then why are u spanking” Cut their rations instead. A good General uses his head more than his hand.”

This scene is definitely worth watching.

The movie proceeds. It tries to show all kinds of beautiful emotions during war. I call it beautiful coz, all emotions are basically beautiful from a photographers point of view. And, It is traumatic or pleasurable from the experiencer's point of view.

But, you will have to watch the movie to find out the significance of this film’s title.

Definitely, a belief changing experience.

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If you want to know who is the best director today in hollywood, sit down and watch this and its accompanyiny twin FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS from the masterful writer director CLINT EASTWOOD .

the two are shot back to back  on the same location, the island of iwojima which witnessed the most horrifying massacre of japanese army by the US marines, as unofficially they were told not to take any prisoners of war and the japanese were obliged to fight to their death or commit suicide, the soldiers who surrendered were tortured and killed, and the movie shows the facts without being squeamish as it is shot from the japanese perspective in japanese language with an authentic japanese cast representing the factual characters .

This was the last line of defense between the marines and mainland japan and the japanese had lost the battles in okinawa, midway and mariana, so basically they were putting up a symbolic resistance with the full knoweledge that japan had been defeated, they were desperate and illequipped with no aircover or food and very little ammunition against an enemy who was invincible with its numerical and technical superoirity and prowess, their lines of communication with japan were blocked by sea or air and all they could do was write letters to their families back home which never got posted but they wrote of their hopes and desires like all human beings hoping for a miracle that we expect but never happens, the letters which were discovered from the cavernous caves of suirabachi in 2005 are the pretext on which the movie is based but the experience of watching it is too real to compare with any written words .

this is a brutal, realistic yet poetic account of the futility of war and it shows that war and heroism is a compromise that we have to make when we have no other choices of survival, yet its a tribute to the valour of the men who are shown blowing themselves and their opponents with grenades and being torched alive in their cavernous defenses they have built to defend themselves, yet they never let go of optimism and the camaraderie amongst them is examplary .

Every sequence is stunning and the war scenes are the best ive ever witnessed as they were in the flags of our fathers but here they are reversed with the japanese in charge under general kiryabichi [ken watanabe ]and baron nishi who play their roles with great dignity and aplomb, their dilemmas and desperation equally matched by their resilience and compassion towards their fellow japanese and the marines .

they are both aristocratic and have been to mainland USA before the war and nishi is a handsome devil who won the gold medal as the best rider at LA olympics in 1932, he has brought his horse with him to the island, the early demise of the animal in a bomb raid shows his anguish as a father towards a childs death, the general was friends with americas military cream before the war and he holds onto the antique  colt given to him as a gift by his american friends at a banquet in his honor before the war till his last breath.

the emotions are beautifully captured in the scene where nishi tries to save an injured us marine from kansas and their short conversation reflects on the similarities of human needs and desires irrespective of race or religion and how easy it is to be friends rather then enemies even in a desperate situation, for me that scene alone makes this a masterpiece and I applaud both eastwood and spielberg [the co-producer ]for giving a great message to todays troubled humanity .

technically the movie is a masterpiece from every angle, whether its the sparse background score or sound editing or the CGI, it is perfection, the caves are choreographed as masterfully as the beach combat and the aerial raids are too real to describe with the perspective of the pilots as well as the ground defenders .

this is a war movie which actually will make you shun war in its totaliarianism and political motivations  and manipulations

is there any need for war in modern world or in the past world and has it ever solved any problems is the question posed here and the answer is on the screen .

A round of double applause for mr eastwood

cheers oz. Do leave comments if not about the movie then about war itself.

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