Review of Letters from Iwo Jima (2006) by Mahmoud F — 29 Oct 2009

Letters from Iwo Jima is easily one of the greatest war movies ever made. While not everything is perfect in the film (mainly the way Clint seems to wash the color out of every frame) and not much of the actual history is covered, the film wins for the pure humanity it gives to it's characters.

I can honestly say that I've never watched a war film that balanced how ridiculously stupid and evil war can be while not actually making either side (in this case Japan and America) look bad. I mean, the main focus is on the Japanese soldiers and their stories, but some Americans do come in and they are treated with just the same level of respect.

The film somewhat resembles a Japanese style movie, but (like I mentioned before) the color scheme is completely western. Every frame is some sort of gray or brown and it just looks pretty terrible (you can even compare to the documentary takes on the DVD/Blu-Ray and see how much better the picture could have been). This weird coloring ruins some of the cinematography that could have helped draw the viewer into the setting.

The acting is very solid all around. Ken Watanabe is very stern but friendly and his character is one of intellect rather than a headstrong war hero. Kazunari Ninomiya conveys a true sense of wanting to be home (mainly because he missed Japan so much) and his character's story pulls the most at your heartstrings.

The musical score is a little lacking, but it pops up in certain moments that definitely need music. When it does happen, you almost feel like crying at the sheer insanity of war.

The only other thing that needs commenting are the war scenes. They are good, but nothing that hasn't been done before. This movie doesn't go for the brutality of Saving Private Ryan, but it does create some effective moments. The blood is completely terrible. For some reason Clint decided to use CGI to convey blood and it just doesn't work at all.

Regardless of these minor complaints, Letters is a very effective war film and easily one of the best of the genre. Just for focusing and capturing personalities within a war zone as well as it does, this movie is a much watch.