Letters From Iwo Jima

'Letters should be sent to every soldier'

When I first started this blog, one of the original reviews was for the widely hyped and yet disappointing Clint Eastwood flick Flags of Our Fathers concerned with the American side of World War II and in particular the bloody battle on the small island known as Iwo Jima. It was known at the time that he had filmed a second movie as a companion piece to that film and Letters from Iwo Jima is it. Except for one difference, it's damn good.

The first film came out and flopped. It fell under its own anti-war anti-media spin self and died in a heap somewhere holding a small miniature flag that is usually reserved for drinks at a martini bar. Letters, instead of going for a very flashy experience, is much better written, better acted, and about ten times as interesting in what it portrays and in what it has to say concerning war. Eastwood is known for discussing what it means to be a hero and this film explores the acts of a hero in much more depth in a manner that is well done. At moments it seems preachy, but it is well executed. When this movie was released in a rush after the flop of Flags of Our Fathers, I was skeptical. When it got nominated for an Oscar, I was pissed because I have honestly never seen a film of Eastwood's that I felt was deserving of the amount of accolades it received. Now, I have to agree. It earned that nomination for Best Picture.

Letters From Iwo Jima was plotted out by Paul Haggis and his apprentice Iris Yamashita with Yamashita actually writing the screenplay. At one point this would have been gleefully welcomed, but after seeing two bleh movies Haggis has worked on, this became the scariest point. The good news is that Yamashita scripts a better structure and screenplay for Clint this time out than Haggis did for Flags. The movie is all in subtitles and does not demote itself to dubbing thankfully. The film is nowhere as flashy as Flags which had a lot of flashbacks and scenes that seemed out of order and jumbled requiring the audience to put the pieces together but often times being unable to do so. Letters still uses flashbacks, except it provides a better context for them such as when a soldier is reading a letter and it drifts back to his memories. Or when they are writing a leter or talking to someone about it. These contexts are essential and provide necessary information about the characters that humanize the japanese side of the war. The other great thing about the script is it goes out of its way to make itself understood by a more modern audience. Japan at the time had a fanatical alliance with the Emperor of Japan hence the popularity of kamikaze bombers and the like. The film's main character is a Japanese baker who is recently married, sent off, and told to die for his country. A man who doesn't really care about the Emperor while surrounded by those that follow blindly. Although there is some anti-government rebellion inherent in this, Yamashita and Eastwood don't emphasize it nearly as much as Flags did and it pays off. Yamashita redirects the story to focus not on questioning government, but more to how to behave ones self in the middle of a hellish battle. All the characters have to balance their senses of honor, skepticism, and humanity in the terrible battle for Iwo Jima. The best way to characterize this idea is the one presented by the Japanese blind captain, "Do what is right because it is the right thing to do." Yamashita balances each character well and by focusing on only a couple of characters and by giving the main one an epic journey over the small island of Iwo Jima, the audience becomes familiar with all of the aspects of that war, including the gruesome scenes of mass suicide by grenade. It is a beautiful and well-made script with great character arcs for actors to enjoy, which they certainly do.

When it comes to acting, the only person in the film most western audiences might recognize is Ken Watanabe whose previous credits include The Last Samurai, Memoirs of a Geisha, and Batman Begins. Watanabe plays the new general in charge of defending the island Iwo Jima from oncoming American forces, but his troops don't trust him because he supposedly went to America and might be a friend of America. Watanabe has always seemed a fairly wooden actor to me with a great smile. I'm sure he'll make a great grandad one day, but he has never grabbed and held my attention. He performs his job well and his character comes to life, but it still seems...distant somehow. He'd make a great wise man character as terrible as that is of me to say. Thankfully, he is not the only main actor in this film. In fact, he is the second most with the first being Kazunari Ninomiya as Saigo. Where the hell has this kid been? He's amazing! Every suggestion for each battle and every line he delivers is great. He goes from being the clutzy screwup soldier that everyone knows will die to a true war hero. Ninomiya's performance is not only eye-catching but it grabs the heart of the audience and forces you to care and empathize with the Japanese and their plight of their own draft. Other actors that fill out the parts include Ryo Kase as Shimizu, Tsuyoshi Ihara as Baron Nishi, and Shido Nakamura as Lieutenant Ito. All of these last three performances are done splendidly, especially Nakamura's character. His character and his journey was a very pleasant surprise that didn't end the way I thought it would and is a great credit to Nakamura and Yamashita and Eastwood. I don't know why, but Eastwood is able to bring out much better acting from these Japanese actors than from English speaking ones.

Now for directing. Well, Clint is up to his old tricks. By graying the living hell out of Iwo Jima the movie becomes about as close as you can get to black and white without actually being black and white, but then gets mixed with flashbacks to better days and events in color that offset the dreary and depressing conditions of the moment. This is all well and good and is not orginal in any way since it was done before on Flags and before that on Saving Private Ryan and Schindler's List. The real interesting moment of the film is the rocks. Yes, the rocks. Supposedly Eastwood came up with the idea for both films and what they would be after visiting Iwo Jima and seeing the kind of hellish conditions the Japanese lived in to fight their enemeies. We are talking about self dug interlocking caverns that could collapse at any second and where dysentery and other fun diseases ran rampant. All of these things are shown in the movie, even the grenade suicide scenes. The lack of daylight once the Americans attack and the feeling of being cramped into a small space from which to stand your ground and fight is accented beautifully and really gets into the mindset of the spectator. Also, I was really impressed with the fighting sequences. I mean, I know its Eastwood and Spielberg, so I shouldn't be too surprised, but there are some really well done and well timed explosion sequences from plane gunfire that brought that scenario to life more than I have ever seen. Maybe it has just been a while. Also, this time out for whatever reason, Eastwood's directing style works significantly better than his last attempt with the actors. The real problem comes in how the film is presented. The film is shown in subtitles giving it an art house feel. The problem is that the subtitles are all white which in a film that is close to black and white, a lot of the subtitles get lost in the cinematagraphy and there are literally whole phrases which I could not read. I know some people don't like subtitles, but this is the first time I have seen a film where I hated the subtitles themselves in how they are presented! The other big problem is sometimes the cinematagraphy is too simple. When a couple of character come out of a cave into a bigger cave, the camera is occassionally only showing the wall behind them which is so simple it becomes slightly boring despite the amazing performances and great action sequences. Now this is only in a couple of shots mind you, but it is still noticeable and will keep this film from garnering any cinematagraphy awards.

Conclusion:
Now for the subtitle I created earlier. I feel this movie might be the most important movie for American soldiers to see. We as a country ask a lot of the soldiers at war, especially considering the conditions. The truth is, that we enjoy criticizing and critiquing their behavior so much that we don't ever think to offer an alternative. Instead of being merely a film concerned with critiquing soldiers and their sometimes inhumane actions, it gives an alternative for soldiers to lead by example. When on a battlefield, no matter how much you hate the other side, when someone gives up or is shot, you try to help them and capture them. The difference between the portrayal of Americans by Japan and what they really are is done quite well. Why is this necessary? Because in a war like in Iraq there needs to be a humanizing of both sides for the people to understand why to act humanely. If we just assume that all Muslims are evil and not to be tolerated, then they will assume the same about Christians. The war in Iraq is not supposed to be a holy war, it is a govermental war in which as soldiers they are expected to put aside their differences of religion and prejudices and act professional. With the fun of Abu Ghraib being one of our sad public misdemeanors, there are many other small injustices going on in Iraq. Now while the Iraqis no longer have a government and we are merely fighting rebels and Al Qaeda operatives, they are still human no matter how much dehumanizing we attribute. Perhaps if we make ourselves seem more human in Iraq and Afghanistan and treat them as a people better and more fairly, then we can call ourselves honorable after this entire torid affair is done. It is sad that I am sure almost none of America and few soldiers will ever see this film simply because it does humanize the enemy and has traces of anti-government propaganda idealism, plus it has a very low box office draw. So if you get the chance, go see this remarkable film with its interesting characters and take a good look at the other side. You'll be surprised to see yourself there.

4.3 out of 5

Wannabe