Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)

Release date: 2007-02-02
Country: USA
Language: Japanese|English
Director: Clint Eastwood
Production Co: DreamWorks, Warner Bros., Malpaso Productions
Genre: Action, War, Drama, Adventure, History
Rating: 7.9/10
Length: 2h 21min

Storyline

The island of Iwo Jima stands between the American military force and the home islands of Japan. Therefore the Imperial Japanese Army is desperate to prevent it from falling into American hands and providing a launching point for an invasion of Japan. General Tadamichi Kuribayashi (Ken Watanabe) is given command of the forces on the island and sets out to prepare for the imminent attack. General Kuribayashi, however, does not favor the rigid traditional approach recommended by his subordinates, and resentment and resistance fester amongst his staff. In the lower echelons, a young soldier, Saigo (Kazunari Ninomiya), a poor baker in civilian life, strives with his friends to survive the harsh regime of the Japanese Army itself, all the while knowing that a fierce battle looms. When the American invasion begins, Kuribayashi and Saigo find strength, honor, courage, and horrors beyond imagination.

Plot Keywords

japanese soldier, gun, gunshot wound, violence, brutality, letter, last stand, world war two, u.s. soldier, year 1945, dead soldier, uniform, firearm, u.s. military, blood splatter, u.s. navy, artillery, tank, stabbed to death, shot to death

Short Review

The whole is a more satisfactory entity than Flags of Our Fathers - and the final scene, which has veterans and relatives scouring the tunnels and caves for the buried letters, is a suitably moving coda.