Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)

Synopsis: War is a scary thing, especially if you know that you're gonna die and that there is no way around it. You know what is scarier? When everyone in your unit and army expects you to die that they think that dying is the right thing to do. That's the setting in 1944 on a isolated island in Japan, Iwo Jima. Saigo is a reluctant soldier drafted into service, pulled away from his wife and his unborn child. On the island is where the Japanese Empire will make its last stand against the Americans. The problem is that by this time, most of Japan's naval fleet has been destroyed along with air support leaving Iwo Jima cut off from outside help. So you think that best thing to do for them is to surrender but that's not the way their new commander, Tadamichi Kuribayashi (Ken Watanabe) rolls. He is hardcore country first and his conviction is every soldier will die defending the mother land because that's the country's conviction. They are always one and the same, or are they?

Should You Watch It? Wow... that's really all there is to say about it really. From the get go, you know this movie is tragic. Damn you Clint Eastwood haha. Freakin' five minutes into the film you wanna cry and it just keeps coming with the beautiful characters, mesmerizing action sequences mixed in with perfect dialogue and the music ugh! it's non stop and unrelenting drama which jerks at your heart strings until the very end. This film finally takes a look at the other side of the war and really brings humanity of warfare into a new light.

Things to Watch Out For: Ken Watanabe. I swear this guy has played every role a Japanese actor can play. Whenever you get a Japanese lead nowadays, his name is probably the first on the list, and again he's masterful. The cast is all Japanese, hardcore style. Which is a pleasent surprise because Hollywood usually uses American Japanese actors, and their Japanese isn't really authentic but it's hardcore this time. And the setting from what I can tell, is authentic as well. Everything is just beautiful down to the smallest detail.

Things You Don't Expect: Just how sad it is. LIke we've all watched war movies and learned how brutal it is. We've seen pretty much soldiers getting blown up in every which way. And even though this movie, structure wise, resembles Saving Private Ryan it uses far less action and more dialogue and character development to really focus the audience in on a small group of characters. Telling this story through flashbacks is another interesting choice and a brilliant one by the writer, Paul Haggis and Iris Yamashita.

Edit: It has been brought to my attention that this movie was filmed in Iceland. Thanks Keither for the heads up!

Final Comments:
Story: 9.0 (Tadamichi Kuribayashi: book, Iris Yamashita & Paul Haggis: screenplay and story)
Direction: 9.5 (Clint Eastwood)
Acting: 8.5
Cinematography: 9.0 (Tom Stern)
Music/Sound: 9.2 (Kyle Eastwood & Michael Stevens)

Final Score: 9.2