When
actor turned Academy Award winning director Clint Eastwood decided to make "Flags
of Our Fathers", a World War II movie about American GI's who survived the
battle of Iwo Jima, and as victors raised the flag on the island, before returning
home as heroes, it turned out that the American point of view wasn't enough to
cut it for him. There was another side to the war story, a perspective that should
be told through the eyes, hearts and letters of the Japanese who defended the
island of Iwo Jima against American forces during the forty days of battle in
1945. The result is "Letters from Iwo Jima," a more superior, deeply
moving film than its companion piece released earlier in the year. At this writing,
Letters has already been honored as Best Picture of 2006 by the National Board
of Review and it has won the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film
by the Hollywood Foreign Press. Next up is the Academy Awards, which will no doubt
have Letters among its contenders. As the second half of the dual project, Letters
from Iwo Jima, spoken in Japanese with English subtitles and shot mostly in black
and white (probably as an homage to old war movies and to emphasize the gloomy
setting) stands as an eye opening, thought provoking experience that will have
everyone rethinking the way we perceive the Japanese soldiers in World War II
whom, in previous movies, were portrayed as nothing more than the cruel and ruthless
enemy. This is the first time young Japanese soldiers are seen as young men, not
that different from ours. Stripped of all their cultural, language and political
differences when it comes down to it they have more in common with us than we've
ever been lead to believe, sharing the same human qualities.
Through
all their tactics and strategies, for the 20,000 Japanese who tried to hold on
to the island they held sacred, it turned out to be a virtual suicide mission
where only 1,000 of their men survived. Short of food, water, and ammunition and
informed by headquarters on the mainland that no reinforcements would be sent,
the soldiers know that victory was futile and they would most likely die. Surrender
was not an option. Rather, for the staunch believer, he would rather take his
own life either by a self-inflicted gunshot to the head or by blowing himself
up with a hand grenade.
The
story centers around several significant characters we meet whose personal life
is revealed through flashbacks and letters to their loved ones as they are held
up in caves under horrendous conditions, near starvation, waiting for the enemy
to invade. All the performances are outstanding. Saigo (popstar Kazunari Ninomiya)
is a young baker forced to go to battle against his will after being told that
it is his patriotic duty. Although indoctrinated to believe that it would be an
honor to die for his country he can't wait to go home and be reunited with his
wife and baby daughter that was born while he was away. Shimizu (Ryo Kase) is
the idealist, a former member of the military police who was discharged and sent
to war as punishment after he wouldn't follow orders to kill a barking dog, an
act he knew would be wrong. The handsome and dashing Baron Nishi is the world-renowned
Olympic equestrian who loves his horse so much that he has it sent with him to
the island. Unlike their soldiers who have no knowledge of Americans other than
from the propaganda they've been told, both Nishi and General Kuribayashi (former
Academy award nominee Ken Watanabe) have spent time in America, have an understanding
of what is now their enemy and show a compassionate human side in contrast to
some of the heartless and ruthless military leaders who would rather kill or torture
one of their own men than allow signs of weakness or defeat. As commander in charge,
once the General arrives he devises the plan for his men to dig more than 18 miles
of tunnels and caves that enables them to withstand the onslaught of American
troops for more than a month, but he eventually becomes well aware of the fate
that awaits himself and his men.
Yes,
there is plenty of combat, bloodshed and explosions, the usual brutality and horrors
of war. And Eastwood doesn't shy away, showing the atrocities being committed
on both sides, equally. Let's face it. War is ugly any way you look at it, with
innocent young men used as pawns and the use of propaganda by combatant countries
to sell the idea of a just war. Clint Eastwood makes these points very clear and
has delivered a triumph, creating one of the most notable, powerful anti war movies
I have ever seen. Letters from Iwo Jima plays out as an intimate look inside the
heart and mind of the people who are forced to fight wars not of their making.
Though spoken in Japanese the display of humanity, common to all, needs no translation.
Who's
In It: 
