Letters From Iwo Jima Another Masterpiece From Eas
By Yahoo! Shopping User May 22, 2007
Pros: The bonus features are for once not just a separate part of this DVD. They are truly an experience and a part of the full movie experience.
Cons: This is a rare movie that has no flaws.
So much could be written and said about Letters From Iwo Jima. So much, in fact, that it is next to impossible to know where exactly to begin. This movie is yet another masterpiece from director Clint Eastwood. Perhaps the first place to begin is wit...h Eastwood himself. While Eastwood directed the movie, the screenplay itself was written by a woman who is Japanese-American. Writer Iris Yamashita noted in the bonus features that she has written numerous works before, and had little to no expectation of her script being used for the movie. Yet on her first big budget movie ever, her work received four Oscar nominations and won a Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Picture. That is beyond outstanding. It is very rare for a first timer to gain so much acclaim and success worldwide. Her work is, however, fully deserving of all the accolades which it earns. Just like Flags of Our Fathers, this movie was very realistic. All of the actors in this movie--with the excetion of the few American actors near the end who play American G.I.'s--were Japanese. Not only this, but the actors were found by a Japanese talent agent. Eastwood and the cast noted in the special features the amount of research that had to be done for this movie to make it so realistic because of the lack of information kept by the Japanese on the battle of Iwo Jima after WWII. That amount of research and the dedication to find it showed through in every aspect of this movie. Those explanations of the research and talent search are what made for features that for once are an absolute necessity to a movie. So often, DVD's are released with bonus material just there for the sake of being there. But the bonus features included with this movie are truly what make the movie so deep and tragic, yet moving. In listening to the interviews with Eastwood, [Iris] Yamashita and the cast, viewers will truly be able to appreciate why Eastwood decided to make this companion piece to Flags of Our Fathers. The discussion in the movie about how even Japanese soldiers were not all for the war is eye opening. The same research is revealed by author Evan Thomas in his book Sea of Thunder. It points out that many of the upper military officers in Japan had basically been brainwashed into believing in the whole concept of death before dishonor and perhaps did not know or even care why they were fighting. They just went along saying they wanted to protect their homeland, while at the same time pledging themselves to the glory of the emperor. Yet in Saigo (and other soldiers later in the movie) that some of the soldiers fighting on Iwo Jima questioned why they were fighting. Many of them, after all, had been forced into the fight, just like the U.S. soldiers. Saigo made a statement late in the movie about how he had been taught that Americans were vicious and didn't care what happened to others, but had seen first hand quite the opposite in one soldier whom they had caught. Americans in that day said the same thing about the Japanese. So it was interesting to see in these two movies, just how similar the Americans and Japanese really were as much as each thought they were different. So much more could be said and written about this movie But to do that, one would end up writing a graduate or even doctoral dissertation. This movie, and Flags of Our Fathers, are together, two of the most provocative and thought provoking movies written in decades. Perhaps the best way to close this is to reference actor Tsuyoshi Ihara. Ihara played one of the main roles in this movie. He said in the interviews for the movie that he was amazed at how the Americans fought to the death in the batlle for Iwo Jima. Yet in making this movie, the two sides came together peacefully to honor part of the history of Japan that that country's government had seemingly tried to wipe under the rug. But again, before this begins rambling, so much more could be said Read more Less
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