Letters from Iwo Jima is perhaps even more interesting than its companion piece Flags of Our Fathers, with which it was filmed (obviously) back-to-back (not just on Iwo Jima but in Iceland and California too). It's the same battle, of course, but takes its cue from letters sent home - the inspiration was the non-fiction book 'Picture Letters from the Commander in Chief' by General Tadamichi Kuribayashi, a much respected military strategist and poet who drew Clint's attention. The story was written by Paul Haggis and Iris Yamashita and she wrote the screenplay (they were both Oscar nominated).
The humane qualities and humour of the man is well conveyed by Ken Watanabe, and the other main figures are that of a young baker, portrayed by Kazunari Ninomiya, and an Olympic show jumper Tsuyoshi Ihara. Through it we learn that the soldiers are ordinary people, dying of dysentery, starving, short of ammunition, their Government are lying to them and the Japanese Navy has been smashed. There's no hope that any of them will survive. Some commit suicide, others try to dessert, some fall honorably, two prisoners are cold-bloodedly shot by American soldiers. There's a good mix of types here, from the cruel to the sensitive.
The madness, chaos and inevitability of doom put me in mind of Wajda, and Kanal specifically.
Tom Stern's cinematography is so desaturated it's often more like black-and-white.
It was a huge critical and commercial success in Japan, where people did not really know or talk about Iwo Jima much. Clint had translators on set, and Watanabe was helpful, for example in checking the translation of the script - which was written in English - into Japanese was accurate. "Good acting is good acting in any language," Clint said, "You don't have to really know the language." He thought it was one of his better films.
'Perhaps' even more interesting? It's a mainstream American film by a highly respected director and it's in Japanese for fuck's sake! That alone makes it somewhat remarkable.
The good, simple music is by Kyle Eastwood and Michael Stevens, edited by Joel Cox and Gary Roach (with Blu Murray and Michael Cipriano assisting). The production designers are Henry Bumstead and James Murakami.
It is, I feel, something of a masterpiece.
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