Review of Letters from Iwo Jima (2006) by Tristan M — 28 Nov 2015

There are next to no movies that tell of the Japanese side of the story about the Pacfic Theater, as if there is any amount of Pacific Theater movies to begin with. But this is one of the greats for sure, the second part to Clint Eastwoods Iwo Jim's saga.

It follows a very different feel than Flags of our Fathers. Not only is it a very different language, but the conditions of the soldiers are far different. It's a claustrophobic feel, often confined to small networks of caves, on a remote island, surrounded by the US marines.

Anyone who knows of the Japanese during WWII knows that at one time or another they will commit suicide, banzai charge (suicide) or fight to the death. It's a sad and gloomy story, and it's portrayed very well.

The story is great, the acting and script are both good, and the action is good. Sometimes explosions can look a little too CGI, or just not big enough. But these are minor setbacks to action with gret sounds and violence.

It's large scale, hectic and futile for the Japanese, and ends with many dead. It does feel a little rushed however, from the brief capture of the beach to the flag on Iwo, takes no time at all, and could have used more attention.

However these are the events commonly used with the battle, so it's great to see the futile battle of the rest of the island strongly covered as well, something Flags of our Fathers only does marginally.

However it covers the horror well, and has a very dark and hopeless feel. We do feel for the Japanese, and although their ideas about honor and suicide may be crazy to us, it shows it well and we gain sympathy for them, much like how Downfall makes us feel for the German high command in the last days in Berlin.

Similar idea, but this one has far more action, and what's not to love about that. Great movie, nice to see the other side of the war, extremely well done, and only gets better as it goes along.