Letters From Iwo Jima
[in Japanese w. subtitles]
Memorial Day War-a-thon Film #7
Using letters sent home to Japan during World War Two, Clint Eastwood has constructed the Japanese side of the battle for Iwo Jima island. This was filmed simultaneously with his English-language The Flags of Our Fathers, which followed the lives of some of those made famouse by the raising of the flag in that famous photo and now a statue at Arlington, so the two make a natural double-feature together.
This is all in Japanese with subtitles, as we are given excerpts of the soldiers' letters and that is mixed with live action. This presents a harrowing tale of war, in a stronghold that had miles of tunnels dug by the troops over time, so they were able to hold out a long time and move around underground, unseen on top. They were forced to live like feral animals, and vowed to fight to the death, surrender is a dishonor.
This has some amazing affects, the invasion of occupied Iwo Jima by the navy and marines, footage (obviously CGI effects) that was used in each film. Of the two, I found Letters to be the more intense, as it all takes place on the island, and mostly during the battle itself, while Flags followed the soldiers around in the state promoting war bonds long after their fighting was done.
No. 237 on the IMDB 250, winner of 17 awards
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