Review: Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)

LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA
(a film review by Mark R. Leeper)

CAPSULE: Clint Eastwood shows us the battle of Iwo
Jima from the Japanese side, having three months
ago given it to us from the American side. This
time he gives us a more traditional war film that
is anti-violence but pays homage to those men forced
to be violent. The film is based on the actual
letters of one Japanese commander who is forced to
do his duty knowing it will mean his death.
Eastwood makes some stylistic mistakes, but the
strength of the underlying material comes through.
Rating: high +2 (-4 to +4) or 8/10

This is, of course, Eastwood's second Iwo Jima film. It is a
follow-up to his directly previous film, FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS.
He said in an interview on National Public Radio that while
making the first film he became interested in these letters by
the Japanese commander of the island and decided that there was a
movie to be made about him. As far as I am concerned, it is
actually a better film and very different in tone. FLAGS OF OUR
FATHERS was about exploitation and dishonesty. This is a film
about honor and courage. In spite of the necessary downbeat
ending, at the end of LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA one feels clean and
the previous film leaves one feeling a little dirty. Curiously,
that makes this the more traditional of the two war films. But
there might be good reason for the traditions. Actually, the two
films are mostly consistent in their respect for the fighting man
and are less positive on functionaries who did their service a
safe distance from the fighting, people who could be unfeeling
who could tell themselves it was in good cause.

In the closing days of the Pacific War General Tadamichi
Kuribayashi (played by Ken Watanabe) is the commander ordered to
defend Iwo Jima from the onslaught of Americans. The island
itself seems of little intrinsic value beyond simply being a
strategic objective, being it was actually Japan. Like Yamamoto,
Kuribayashi had been to the United States and was pessimistic
that Japan could defeat such an industrial power. At this point
in the war, that conclusion was rapidly becoming obvious to all
and all too obvious. Kuribayashi accepts the command fully
knowing that it is going to mean his death and the death of most
of his men. Knowing that fact reinforces his natural compassion
for the men serving under him. This makes him liked by the men,
but disliked by the junior officers who favor harsh discipline
for those lower in command. Kuribayashi's strategy it to take
men from digging trenches on the beach and had them instead dig
caves in the rocky hills of the island. This will simply slow
the Americans. He sees his responsibility is to protect the
Japanese children from the Americans, even if it is for only one
day.

Iris Yamashita's screenplay, based on Kuribayashi's letters to
his family, gives us views into the lives of the serving men and
how they came to be serving on Iwo Jima. Once we are introduced
and have a feel for the characters, we see them plunged into the
inferno of war. The personal stories are affecting, though this
is a surprisingly familiar structure for a war film. Films from
the 1940s up to BAND OF BROTHERS have used it. And the soldiers
experience and personalities are not very different from those of
their American enemies. They are sympathetically portrayed. One
low-level American soldier is decidedly unsympathetic, but there
is a Japanese soldier who balances him off. The majority of
those on both sides are just decent people hoping to survive the
war and to get back to civilian life. There is something of the
same spirit here of Michael Shaara's book THE KILLER ANGELS (made
into the great film GETTYSBURG). As in Shaara, both sides are
seen as noble and the war is very unfortunate. What we see are
probably echoes of just about any war.

Ken Watanabe, playing General Kuribayashi, has been in Japanese
films since 1984, notably including the food comedy TAMPOPO.
However he did not get much attention in this country until his
title role in THE LAST SAMURAI. Since then he has been in BATMAN
BEGINS and MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA. The IMDB also says he is rumored
to be already cast for next year's WOLVERINE. He is fast
becoming this generation's answer to Toshiro Mifune. His is the
only face in the film that is likely to be familiar to Americans.

Both Iwo Jima films have the heavily muted colors all but
simulating monochrome. Color is used to highlight parts of an
image--especially the flames of explosions--but never the full
image. Selecting color values within a single scene like this is
effective once or twice, but it is becoming an all-too-familiar
device. Nobody is denying that lighting and color affect the feel
of a film, but this is a gimmick that calls attention to itself
away from the underlying material, and both of Eastwood's Iwo
Jima films used it. Also the muted colors are something of a
special problem in this film. The subtitles are in white and the
background is frequently nearly white making the titles less
readable. If Eastwood wanted to color something in the frame, it
should have been the subtitles.

LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA has some wrenching moments but overall it
strikes me as much less graphic than was FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS.
Overall Eastwood gives tone to the film by playing honor and
fatalism against each other. We rarely get a chance to see the
war from the Japanese side, particularly in the tragic final
weeks. I rate LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA a high +2 on the -4 to +4
scale or 8/10.

Mark R. Leeper
mleeper.RemoveThis@optonline.net
Copyright 2007 Mark R. Leeper