07-03-18 Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)

Seen: February ?, 2007
Format: Theater
Rating: 8

Having seen Eastwood's Flags of out Fathers, I was looking forward to his companion piece. So when my date flaked out, I took the time to take it in. Time better spent in the long run.

A segment of Letters from Iwo Jima does parallel Flags of our Fathers, but it is not an pure retelling from a different perspective. The moments where the two films do overlap are suprising. They're very naturally placed in the narrative, not merely pieced in. To a viewer who'd not seen Flags I'd imagine them to be transparent, but for the rest, they invoke a sense which combines deja vu and sychronicity. The impact is is palpable as these moments send all the context from the previous film rushing back to fill in the second perspective while watching the first. It a powerful device.

Despite these moments, the only thing that they really have in common is the battle for Iwo Jima. While this seems like hyperbolic understatement, neither movie is predominantely about the battle itself. Letters is about many things; courage, deceit, honor and compassion chief among them.

Americans tend to see only the American view of Iwo Jima, that they prevailed against an opposing force which was large, dug-in, well-equipped and grudgingly, a formidable foe. We see the victory as a sacrifice. The propaganda explored in Flags of our Fathers heightens and deepens that view.

Letters shows us that our view, while fairly accurate, isn't the entire picture. It shows us the dynamics of the various factions of the Japanese armed services, which played a significant role in the way the battle played out. It shows us the personalities of the leaders, their motivations and actions. It shows us Japan's campaign as a whole, and how compromises were made in the defense on Iwo Jima in order to further the campaign as a whole. And like any good film concerning war, it shows us the men. It shows us who they were, these men who were our foes. The men who wrote the letters from which the film takes its name.

The performances are excellent. Ken Watanabe is amazing. Tsuyoshi Ihara does an excellent job and the rest of the cast is surprisingly talented and consistent.

The look of the film is bleak. It's grey and subtle. The camerawork is fairly simple and to the point. It serves the story well, but never call attention to itself.

See this film. See it to gain a different perspective while maintaining your own. See to remind yourself that when we fight, whether it be on a battlefield, on the street, in a courtroom, or even in our own homes, we fight other people. And they have their own stories, their own joys and their own hardships.

The Good: Acting and an objective presentation of the Japanese view of Iwo Jima.

The Bad: Ego and politics rarely serve anyone well.

The Ugly: Grenades are not toys.