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Letters From Iwo Jima
Directed by: Clint Eastwood
Starring: Ken Watanabe
Genre:
Action-Adventure/ Drama/Foreign
Run Time: 141
min.
Release Date:
December 2006
On The Web:
Official
Site
Teaser:
Movie Trailer
Reviewed by
Byron Merritt |
In my review of
FLAGS OF OUR
FATHERS, I mentioned that I wasn’t sure if I’d be
watching this flipside film based on the Japanese experience. My fears
were twofold. First is that director Clint Eastwood lacks character
development, and I was afraid he’d continue his trend with LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA.
Second (and more recently noted within myself) is that I absolutely
love TORA! TORA! TORA! Similarities between it and the new
Eastwood additions cannot be denied. Although Tora focused on the Pearl
Harbor attack and not Iwo Jima, it did look at both sides of the war
(Japan and America.) I feared that Dirty Harry might muddy the
film-waters of Tora! Tora! Tora!
Thankfully the latter didn’t happen, but the former trend continues.
With the exception of Ken Watanabe’s (MEMOIRS
OF A GEISHA) portrayal of General Kuribayashi
and Kazunari Ninomiya’s Saigo, there were few characters with which the
audience could identify. We care little for any of these doomed men
simply because we don’t know them well enough. The story itself is
historically interesting, of course, and it’s well told. But the lack of
empathy viewers will have for any of the characters will likely plague
this film to its bitter end.
Where Tora! Tora! Tora! succeeded was not simply in its storytelling,
but also in that we got in tight with everyone involved. From Martin
Balsam’s gruff Pacific Fleet Admiral to So Yamamura’s demanding
Vice-Admiral Yamamoto presence, all of the characters had some important
measure within the film’s scheme. Clint Eastwood seems to have had
trouble doing this with two lengthy movies (Flags was 132 minutes long
and Letters 141 minutes while Tora alone was just 144 minutes.)
The thing I don’t want to do here is disrespect (in any way) what
happened on this little spit of land in the Pacific. The horrors were
real and Mr. Eastwood does a fair job showing us some pretty abhorrent
conditions the Japanese were subjected to. Clint Eastwood is a fine
filmmaker, but he’s not the finest. And this is also where I have a beef
with the Oscar board members.
This film is in a foreign language and yet it got nominated in the “Best
Picture” category at last year’s Oscars. I realize that the director is
American, but that alone surely shouldn’t dictate the category in which
it’s placed come awards time, should it? Almost all of the remaining
awards ceremonies placed it in the “Foreign Language” category but not
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts. A bit of cronyism going on? Banish
the thought!
(back to top) |
Image from Letters From
Iwo Jima
DVD cost: $25.99
Purchase:
BestPrices.com
Film Review Stew
Favorite? No.
Stew Poo-Poo? No.
Newsworthy:
The story of Lt. Ito
strapping mines to himself and lying among corpses to attack a tank is
based on the real-life story of Satoru Omagiri, as told in The Rising
Sun by John Toland.
Movie Quote: "I
am determined to serve and give my life for my country."
Other Actors/Actresses
from Letters From Iwo Jima
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