Letters from Iwo Jima
Composite Score: 87.1
Starring: Ken Watanabe, Kazunari Ninomiya, Tsuyoshi Ihara, Ryô Kase, Shidô Nakamura, Hiroshi Watanabe, Takumi Bando, Yuki Matsuzaki, Takashi Yamaguchi, Eijiro Ozaki, and Nae
Director: Clint Eastwood
Writers: Iris Yamashita and Paul Haggis
Genres: Action, Adventure, Drama, History, War
MPAA Rating: R for graphic war violence
Box Office: $68.67 million worldwide
My take on Watching This Film:
Letters from Iwo Jima is Clint Eastwood’s film about the Battle of Iwo Jima from the perspective of soldiers on the Japanese side. Originally meant as a companion piece for Eastwood’s film Flags of Our Fathers, it far outstripped its American perspective counterpart in critical, audience, and awards reception. The film received widespread acclaim, including Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay (though inspiration was drawn from accounts of the battle), and a win for Best Sound Editing. Its portrayal of the Japanese point of view on Iwo Jima marked a deviation from the norm in most American films about the Japanese during World War II in that it actually cast Japanese actors for its major characters, and it sought to portray the Japanese culture and customs of the time more faithfully and generously than the stereotypes of previous films – to the extent that the film experienced greater box office success in Japan than it did in the U.S. It features Ken Watanabe as General Tadamichi Kuribayashi, Kazunari Ninomiya as Private Saigo, Tsuyoshi Ihara as Lt. Col. Baron Takeichi Nishi, Ryô Kase as Private Shimizu, Shidô Nakamura as Lt. Ito, and Hiroshi Watanabe as Lt. Fujita. While the technical elements of the film certainly impress – the sound design is particularly impressive and deserving of its win as it immerses the audience in the panic of the battle – the performances, story, and message of the film also deserve major recognition. This is arguably Eastwood’s most inspired film: Deviating from his typical cynical takes on the evil in the hearts of all men that deserves punishment and justice to be served in as violent a fashion as the universe deems necessary, it instead seeks to see the good present even in the enemy and recognizes the horror of war as something that dehumanizes all of us as we allow it to become commonplace. The film still doesn’t shy away from the concept of evil and depravity within humanity, but that’s not its focus. Rather, it seeks to explore the institutional breakdowns that occur as a result of war, emphasizing the sincerity, and at times helplessness, of those acting within the confines of combat situations. While you’d be hard-pressed to find a war film made in the last fifty years that is overtly pro-war, I think this one does a better job of denouncing war and conflict than most of the others, simply because it doesn’t rely on scare tactics or massive scenes of death to portray the horrors of war. It instead showcases the actual breakdown of humanity that happens in war, which to me is a far more poignant way of portraying the negative impact of international conflict than again showing someone’s skin peeling away or a guy screaming with his innards all over the ground around him. It’s still a violent film, but it doesn’t use its violence to portray its message, which is a lesson that other films about the military could learn from. Clint Eastwood has given us a superior war film in Letters from Iwo Jima that brilliantly portrays the dehumanizing nature of warfare with poignant stories that humanize those we often view as the enemy, fully deserving of a spot among the Greatest Films of All Time. While it’s important to watch the film through the proper framing and to remember that it’s not condoning the actions of the Japanese empire prior to or during World War II, its portrayal is strong and works to acknowledge those flaws without espousing them. Currently, this film can be watched on Paramount+ or rented on most other streaming platforms if you’d like to check it out for yourself.
