'Jima Thing'---Letters From Iwo Jima is a WWII Great

Halfway through last year, Clint Eastwood’s film about the battle of Iwo Jima, Flags of Our Fathers, was getting loads of press, healthy buzz, and was considered to have a good shot at serious Oscar consideration. Barely any ink was spent writing up the companion piece, Letters from Iwo Jima, Clint’s experiment in balancing one war film with another from the opposing side—ultimately providing a potent anti-war message that the films themselves barely touch upon. When Flags was released, many (this critic included) found the film uneven (a total shift in narrative 2/3rds of the way through definitely didn’t help), heavy-handed, and a bit over-acted. Even the title was snooze-temptingly square. While the story, following the soldiers from the famous photograph of the flag-raising at Iwo Jima and suggesting that propaganda was as much of a weapon in winning World War II as nuclear armament, was unique and worth telling—the film itself was flawed, far from a bad film—but nowhere near the masterpiece it was anticipated to be.

Undoubtedly there are unlimited tales to tell about World War II, but in a post-Private Ryan world, it was beginning to feel like the cinematic well was running a bit dry.

Maybe not---as it turns out Eastwood’s Letters, released at the end of last year for Oscar eligibility after Flags’ hopes diminished (a gamble that paid off with best picture/director/screenplay nominations and a best sound editing win) proves to be one of the best war films ever made.

Told from the perspective of several Japanese soldiers, Letters from Iwo Jima is much smaller in scale than its American counterpart—much of the action takes place in small bunkers where the soldiers argue with one another in close quarters. The film gets to know its characters intimately, through the letters written to family back home and the interactions the soldiers have with one-another all the way down the chain of command.

By far the most interesting aspect of the film is how, when complimented with Flags, it makes both separate pieces better than they are alone. Letters offers insight into Japanese culture by displaying the soldiers’ willingness to sacrifice their lives if not for each other, than for honor. Contrasting this to the often selfish acts of the soldiers in Flags and we’re left with a (possibly unintended) dig at American values and priorities. The film is almost subversive in that, while we never out-right root for American soldiers to die, we sympathize with the Japanese and the Americans—heroes of hundreds of WWII films before—become the faceless enemy.

Letters from Iwo Jima highlights Eastwood’s strengths as a director: austere, poetic storytelling and the ability to evoke subtle nuanced performances (especially from Ken Watanabe as General Kuribayashi). In offering a tragedy much less complex than Flags, Eastwood is able to deliver a touching war film that displays the similarities of soldiers on opposing sides of a battle, while also challenging us with the differences.

10/10

*The film deserves much better than the lame Dave Matthews reference in the headline...but I couldn't resist