Review of Letters from Iwo Jima (2006) by Cameron J — 07 Jul 2011

Man, this should show you just how great of a director Clint Eastwood is, due to his ability to work around the communication differences. I mean, it had to be hard for those Japanese people to work with him, with all of his grumbling. Too easy? Okay. But seriously though, it's not enough that Eastwood can work around the communication differences, but he's still able to really give off a deeply compelling atmosphere and However, the film is still not without its share of notable flaws.

The film suffers from some lack of development, slow spots and overdrawn points. Also, - like in "Flags of Our Fathers" - there are points where the mostly decent visual effects fault, usually during battle sequences, when they're required to be at their best. These faults take you out of the movie and take knocks at the tenstion during the action sequences, mostly because it doesn't blend well with Eastwood's trademark taste is brilliant and distinctive cinematography, which ironically is one of the elements that make the action so great. Something else that was a bit faults in "Flags" was the acting, something that is definately fixed here. Of course, before we discuss that, let's touch on the film's other strengths, such as a great score, some snappy editing, sharp sound and solid production designs. Another great strength in this is - once again - the stellar cinematography. It's hard to not read those subtitles, because everything behind it is just so visually captivating.

As for the performances, they really are impressive. I believe it was the members of Spill who joked "You don't know what they're saying, so there's no telling if they're acting badly or not." This film is a strong argument against that statement if you actually took it seriously. Guess what I'm going to say. The characters emote-well, have crackling chemistry and give off compelling atmospheres. If you guessed correctly, then why are you still reading my long reviews? I thought I told you to get a life when I reviewed "Saints and Soldiers". But seriously though, these are truly solid performances on the screen, but the other real power is Eastwood's performance off the screen.

As I said, Eastwood is definately taking a chance by working on a foreign language film. True, many directors have taken on this challenge, but so few have the energy to do most everything else as well as Eastwood does. Though the film is quiet and a bit slow, it's rarely boring, because Eastwood is able to set up a very compelling atmosphere and keep you invested in the characters, which is especially impressive, considering the language barrier that the American audience will meet. I know it silly, but being familiar with the dialogue keeps you down to earth with the film and allows you to focus more on the atmoshpere surrounding the dialogue, so for Eastwood to somehow penetrate the language barrier and make the film universally compelling is quite impressive. Something else that's impressive in Eastwood's direction is the message it tells. The film is quite humanist and studies on the struggles on the other side of the battlefied, making it - as I said earlier - the final piece of the puzzle laid down by "Flags of Our Fathers", thus completing the two-part story's message on what it means to be a hero. Both of these films have stories worth telling and together, they create a message worth delivering.

In the end, not only is it an equal companion piece to the also fine "Flags of Our Fathers", but on its own, "Letters From Iwo Jima" is a well-acted, handsomely-shot and generally moving observation on the other side of the battlefield.