Letters From Iwo Jima (12A.)
Directed by Clint Eastwood.
Starring Ken Watanbe, Kazunari Nakamura, Tsuyoshi Ihara, Ryo Kase, Shido Nakamura. Japanese with subtitles.141 mins
Letters is something unprecedented - a major American director making a foreign language war film from the point of view of the enemy. Following Flags of Our Fathers, this is the second prong of Eastwood’s tribute to those that died in one of the bloodiest battle of the Pacific War, Iwo Jima. This time we get the Japanese perspective. Just like the campaign it chronicles, Letters begins with little cause for optimism and then moves inexorably towards its grim conclusion. It’s a mindset very different from the soldiers on the other side. The Japanese soldiers arriving on the island were left in no doubt that their mission was to die honourably in a futile cause.
But the intention of exploring this is hampered because the three main characters all seem to have been selected to be identifiable to Western audiences. He’s not exactly Yossarian, but the largely inept private Saigo (Nakamura) has a keen interest in self preservation, little respect for authority and is just trying to stay alive long enough to get off the island and see the child that hadn’t been born when he was called up.
Further up the chain of command General Kuribayashi (Watanbe) and Baron Nishi (Ihara) both have links with the States. Kuribayashi lived there as an envoy while Nishi won a medal in an equestrian event at the 1932 LA Olympics. They are conflicted between their sense of duty and a realisation of how pointless their sacrifice is.
It’s amazing to see how Kuribayashi’s battle plans are repeatedly scuppered by soldiers opting for honourable suicides rather than retreating to fight on. But scenes of groups of soldiers blowing themselves up with their own grenades have a Monty Python absurdity to them. We only get insight into “our” Japanese characters – the rest seem as alien to us as they would in any other film about the period.
Letters was rushed out when the Flags Oscar push didn’t make it over the beach but it’s the lesser of the two. While the former tried to be adventurous with the narrative and sneak some subversive sentiments about patriotism into the American mainstream, Letters is a straight ahead telling of its story, as plain and simple as its title. I suppose it’s only appropriate that a film about men facing certain death should move with the solemn certainty of a memorial service but it’s a tough watch and ultimately I’m not sure it brings anything new to the American war film beyond subtitles.
American Sniper review
Flags of our Father review
Invictus review
J Edgar review
Hereafter review
Gran Torino review
Directed by Clint Eastwood.
Starring Ken Watanbe, Kazunari Nakamura, Tsuyoshi Ihara, Ryo Kase, Shido Nakamura. Japanese with subtitles.141 mins
Letters is something unprecedented - a major American director making a foreign language war film from the point of view of the enemy. Following Flags of Our Fathers, this is the second prong of Eastwood’s tribute to those that died in one of the bloodiest battle of the Pacific War, Iwo Jima. This time we get the Japanese perspective. Just like the campaign it chronicles, Letters begins with little cause for optimism and then moves inexorably towards its grim conclusion. It’s a mindset very different from the soldiers on the other side. The Japanese soldiers arriving on the island were left in no doubt that their mission was to die honourably in a futile cause.
But the intention of exploring this is hampered because the three main characters all seem to have been selected to be identifiable to Western audiences. He’s not exactly Yossarian, but the largely inept private Saigo (Nakamura) has a keen interest in self preservation, little respect for authority and is just trying to stay alive long enough to get off the island and see the child that hadn’t been born when he was called up.
Further up the chain of command General Kuribayashi (Watanbe) and Baron Nishi (Ihara) both have links with the States. Kuribayashi lived there as an envoy while Nishi won a medal in an equestrian event at the 1932 LA Olympics. They are conflicted between their sense of duty and a realisation of how pointless their sacrifice is.
It’s amazing to see how Kuribayashi’s battle plans are repeatedly scuppered by soldiers opting for honourable suicides rather than retreating to fight on. But scenes of groups of soldiers blowing themselves up with their own grenades have a Monty Python absurdity to them. We only get insight into “our” Japanese characters – the rest seem as alien to us as they would in any other film about the period.
Letters was rushed out when the Flags Oscar push didn’t make it over the beach but it’s the lesser of the two. While the former tried to be adventurous with the narrative and sneak some subversive sentiments about patriotism into the American mainstream, Letters is a straight ahead telling of its story, as plain and simple as its title. I suppose it’s only appropriate that a film about men facing certain death should move with the solemn certainty of a memorial service but it’s a tough watch and ultimately I’m not sure it brings anything new to the American war film beyond subtitles.
American Sniper review
Flags of our Father review
Invictus review
J Edgar review
Hereafter review
Gran Torino review
