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Mood:
- BleakContemplativeSincereSuspensefulCaptivatingDisturbing
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Plot:
- SurvivalAnti WarChaos and MayhemHeroic MissionMilitary LifeBattlesDangerHeroes more...
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Genres:
- DramaHistoricalWar
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Time/Period:
- 20th Century40sWorld War 2
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Place:
- AsiaJapanBattlezoneJungle
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Praise:
- Award WinnerCritically AcclaimedOscar WinnerPrestigious Awards
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Style:
- Ensemble CastGory
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Attitudes:
- SeriousRealistic
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Flag:
- Strong Violent Content
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Letters From Iwo Jima, 2006
English, Japanese
USA
Profile of Letters From Iwo Jima
Letters From Iwo Jima can be described as bleak, contemplative, and sincere. The plot revolves around anti-war themes, chaos and mayhem, and military life. The main genres are drama, war, and historical. In terms of style, Letters From Iwo Jima stars an ensemble cast and is gory. In approach, it is serious and realistic. It is set, at least in part, in a battlezone and in a jungle. Letters From Iwo Jima is located in Japan. It takes place in the 20th century. The movie has received attention for being critically acclaimed and an Oscar winner. Note that Letters From Iwo Jima involves strong violent content.
Summary of Letters From Iwo Jima
Clint Eastwood's companion piece to FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS is again set during World War II. But in LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA, he looks at the war from the Japanese perspective, using Japanese dialogue. With American forces on their way, General Kuribayashi (Ken Watanabe, THE LAST SAMURAI) arrives on the island to find his troops woefully under-trained and hopelessly outmatched. Japanese pop and television star Kazunari Ninomiya plays Saigo, a young soldier who asks, "Am I digging my own grave?" as he creates trenches. With no hope of reinforcements, these men have little hope of leaving the island alive.
Eastwood and director of photography Tom Stern paint their picture in a palette of taupes and grays. The landscape of the volcanic island is desolate, providing a hellish experience for the stationed soldiers but a stark beauty for the audience. With this bleak setting, LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA is a powerful ode to duty in dire circumstances. General Kuribayashi and Saigo provide the emotional center of the film, giving a glimpse into the minds of both seasoned officers and drafted novices. Eastwood doesn't deal in simple heroes and villains; these characters are sympathetic and real, whether their motives are pride, fear, or loyalty to their country. Though only the Academy-Award-nominated Watanabe is a familiar face to American audiences, each of the actors involved displays his experience working in Japanese film, television, and theater. The battle scenes are breathtaking and brutal, but it's the actors who are the core of the film. The picture has the standard tropes found in any modern war film, like verbal abuse by a superior and battle scenes filled with severed limbs. But Eastwood goes beyond the war-movie boilerplate with this impressive film that deserves every accolade it earns.
Details
| Language: | English, Japanese |
| Country: | USA |
| Release date: | 12 January 2007 |
| Runtime: | 141 min |
Cast and Crew
as General Kuribayashi
as Lieutenant Ito
Photos
Clips
Critics Reviews
Entertainment Weekly
Clint Eastwood's profound, magisterial, and gripping companion piece to his ambitious meditation on wartime image and reality, "Flags of Our Fathers."
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- by: Lisa Schwarzbaum
Los Angeles Times
Letters From Iwo Jima, takes audiences to a place that would seem unimaginable for an American director. Daring and significant, it presents a picture from life's other side, not only showing what wartime was like for our Japanese adversaries on...
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- by: Kenneth Turan
Users Reviews
I wasn't sure how to feel about this film, one that, much like the German film Das Boot, attempts to put a human face on the "bad guys" of WWII. Unlike Das Boot, however, which I was never a fan of, Letters isn't deathly boring. Quite the contrary,...
- 22.March.2009
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- by: coolerking
- coolerking rated this movie
8/10Great
Cinematography-wise, this film is a knockout. It is also a daring choice: an American-made film about WWII, told from the Japanese perspective. It has moments of extreme hightened emotion and drama that make the rest of the film worthwhile....
- 20.March.2009
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- by: sethdellinger
- sethdellinger rated this movie
0/10
