Review of Letters from Iwo Jima (2006) by Rob P — 18 Jun 2009

In a society bound by honor and strict adherence to duty, the soldiers of Iwo Jima knew they were grossly outnumbered, that they were likely to never see their families or homeland again, that their former lives were meaningless compared to the defense of a tiny island off the south Pacific. Eastwood?s ?Letters from Iwo Jima? tells of conflicting ideologies and how they react to what society has chosen for them. Their mission: defend Iwo Jima at all costs, for their homeland and for their people. It would be a force of roughly 20,000 Japanese against close to 100,000 Americans, 70,000 of which are Marines; think of fighting in those odds. Is this worth it? For the commanding general (Ken Watanabe as Kuribayashi), yes, he serves a purpose greater than self, and as a career military man his duty is first to country. He will die for the Empire of Japan. For the young soldier Saigo (Kazunari Ninomiya), a baker in his old life, he wants nothing more than to return to his wife and his shop, moreso than serving for the Empire and for personal honor. Letters? is a powerhouse of a film contrasting the moral differences between a life devoted to self and to country, all within a society that demands one over the other.

A night or two after first watching Letters, I?d woken in the middle of night laying there thinking of this movie. There was one brief moment in particular that stood out, and it?s something most films on war neglect: the good-hearted general upon seeing two of his soldiers exhausted from battle, he instinctively and so humanely offers them water. Soon realizing they?re all out of water, he says they could at least sit and rest. These men are depleted, still fighting on, dying for their country. Inside the caves of Suribachi, soon to dig for worms as sustenance, no man should have to live like that? yet this is what they are led to do.

Kuribayashi and many of his soldiers are more than willing to make this sacrifice. We hear of the hopeless suicide ?bonsai? charges, and Eastwood in his film has one particularly graphic scene involving a group suicide of Japanese soldiers bent on retaining their honor they felt would be lost in an Iwo Jima defeat. But there are others, like Saigo, who believe otherwise.

Now, it?s no surprise my appreciation for Clint Eastwood, as a director, actor, even as a composer. He?s a great cinematic icon and the only one I consider larger than life (well, that?s living). Many feel ?Unforgiven? is his greatest accomplishment as a filmmaker, and I can see why. It?s a brilliant picture, my personal favorite for best film of the 1990?s. But with ?Letters from Iwo Jima? I think Eastwood has done the unthinkable: he?d made a film better than ?Unforgiven.? :D.