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Monday, January 24, 2011

Letters from Iwo Jima

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Letters from Iwo Jima (硫黄島からの手紙 Iōjima Kara no Tegami?) is a 2006 war film directed and co-produced by Clint Eastwood, and starring Ken Watanabe and Kazunari Ninomiya. The film portrays the Battle of Iwo Jima from the perspective of the Japanese soldiers and is a companion piece to Eastwood's Flags of Our Fathers, which depicts the same battle from the American viewpoint. The film is almost entirely in Japanese, but was produced by American companies Warner Brothers, DreamWorks, Malpaso Productions, and Amblin Entertainment. After the box office failure of Flags of Our Fathers, DreamWorks sold the United States distribution rights to Warner Brothers, who had the international rights. Letters from Iwo Jimawas released in Japan on December 9, 2006 and received a limited release in the United Stateson December 20, 2006 in order to compete for the 79th Academy Awards. It was subsequently released in more areas of the U.S. on January 12, 2007, and was released in most states on January 19. An English-dubbed version of the film was premiered on April 7, 2008.



Source

The film is based on the non-fiction books "Gyokusai sōshikikan" no etegami ("Picture letters from the Commander in Chief")[2] by General Tadamichi Kuribayashi (portrayed on screen byKen Watanabe) and So Sad To Fall In Battle: An Account of War[3] by Kumiko Kakehashi about the Battle of Iwo Jima. While some characters such as Saigo are fictional, the overall battle as well as several of the commanders are based upon actual people and events.

[edit]Plot

In 2005, Japanese archaeologists explore tunnels on Iwo Jima, where they find something in the dirt.
The film flashes back to Iwo Jima in 1945. Private First Class Saigo is grudgingly digging trenches on the beach. A teenaged baker, Saigo has been conscripted into the Imperial Japanese Army despite his youth and the pregnancy of his wife. Having vowed to return home after the war, Saigo complains to Private Kashiwara that they should let the Americans have Iwo Jima. Overhearing them, an enraged Captain Tanida brutally beats them for being, "unpatriotic."
Meanwhile, Lieutenant General Tadamichi Kuribayashi arrives to take command of the garrison and immediately begins an inspection of the island defenses. He saves Saigo and his friend Kashiwara from Captain Tanida, and orders the men to begin tunnelling defenses under Mount Suribachi. Kuribayashi believes the United States military will take the beaches quickly, and that only subterranean defenses have a chance for holding out. Kuribayashi and Lieutenant Colonel Baron Takeichi Nishi, an Olympic gold medalist show jumper, clash with some of their subordinates, who regard Kuribayashi's strategies as a betrayal of bushido.
Poor nutrition and unsanitary conditions take their toll; many die of dysentery, including Kashiwara. The troops begin using the caves. Kashiwara's replacement, Superior PrivateShimizu, arrives for duty. Saigo, however, is certain that Shimizu has been sent by the political police, or Kempeitai, to spy on disloyal soldiers.
The first American bombings occur, causing significant casualties. A few days later, U.S. Marines land. The American troops suffer heavy casualties, but the beach defenses are quickly overcome, and the attack turns to the tunnels below Mount Suribachi. While delivering a request for more machine guns from the his commander to the Suribachi garrison, Saigo overhears Kuribayashi radioing orders to retreat. The commander, however, regards this as cowardice. Ignoring the General, he instead orders his officers and men to commit suicide. Despite Saigo's efforts to prevent them, the men violently commit suicide by putting hand grenades to their stomachs, and Tanida shoots himself in the head, Saigo, however, convinces Shimizu that would better serve Japan to continue the fight. Leaving the corpses of their comrades, they find two other soldiers, but one gets incinerated by an American flamethrower. They also witness a captured Marine being bayoneted to death.
Saigo and the survivors of Mount Suribachi try to flee with Lieutenant Oiso at night, but they run into Marines, who wipe out all except Saigo and Shimizu. They flee to friendly lines, but are accused by Lieutenant Ito of betraying bushido by surviving a defeat. Ito raises his katana to behead them, but Kuribayashi arrives and saves Saigo again by confirming his order to retreat.
The Japanese soldiers attempt a futile attack against U.S. positions, but take heavy losses. The survivors are ordered to regroup with Lieutenant Colonel Nishi. Ito heads to the U.S. lines with three mines, intending to throw himself under a tank. The next morning, Okubo, Nishi's executive officer, shoots a Marine named Sam, who is subsequently captured. Despite Colonel Nishi's attempts to treat his wounds, Sam dies within hours. Nishi finds a letter from Sam's mother written in English and translates it aloud into Japanese. As a shell hits the cave later on, Nishi is blinded. He orders his men to another position and orders Lieutenant Okubo to leave him a rifle. Upon leaving, the soldiers hear a gunshot from Nishi's cave, implying that Nishi committed suicide.
Saigo suggests surrender, and Shimizu reveals that he was dishonorably discharged from the Kempeitai because he refused to kill a poor family's pet dog for his superior, who was simply annoyed by its barking. Shimizu and another soldier attempt to flee, but Lieutenant Okubo shoots the other soldier, while Shimizu escapes. Shimizu surrenders to a patrol and finds himself with another Japanese POW. The American patrol moves on, leaving them guarded by two Marines. One of the Marines, because he does not want to continue guarding them, summarily executes Shimizu and the other POW. The two bodies are found by Okubo, who uses them as a lesson against surrender. Weeping, Saigo wraps Shimizu's senninbari over his corpse.
Meanwhile, Ito, desperate and malnourished, breaks down and, when found, surrenders. Saigo and the survivors find the cave is under attack, and a fierce battle rages. While running across a crossfire point, they lose several men, including Okubo. They rendezvous with General Kuribayashi. Impressed to learn that Saigo has come all the way from Mount Suribachi, Kuribayashi is amazed to learn that he has twice saved the Private's life. Commenting that things always come in threes, the General orders Saigo to stay behind and burn all documents and letters during the final attack. Saigo, however, cannot bring himself to burn his comrades' letters to their families and buries them instead.
Attired as a common infantryman, Kuribayashi launches a final charge at the head of his surviving soldiers. The Marines and the Japanese engage in a fierce hand-to-hand battle, and Kuribayashi is mortally wounded when shrapnel is lodged in his legs. Fujita, the general's loyaladjutant, drags him away. The next morning, Kuribayashi orders Fujita to behead him. As a weeping Fujita raises his katana to behead Kuribayashi, he is shot dead by a Maine sniper. Private Saigo arrives and the dying General orders his last soldier to bury him where the Americans will never find his body. Then, Kuribayashi draws his M1911 pistol–which was a gift from an American officer friend before the war–and commits suicide. In tears, Saigo drags Kuribayashi's body away for burial.
Meanwhile, a Marine patrol finds Fujita's body. A Marine Lieutenant finds Kuribayashi's pistol and tucks it in his belt as a trophy. They search the area and find Saigo with his shovel. Seeing Kuribayashi's pistol in possession of the enemy, an enraged Saigo begins swinging his shovel at the Marines. But while Saigo's back is to him, the lieutenant knocks him out with a rifle butt and has him taken by stretcher to medical station. Awakening, Saigo glimpses the sun setting over the black sands of the beach and smiles grimly.
The film ends with the Japanese archaeologists from the opening scene of the movie uncovering the letters that Saigo had buried in 1945. Then, we see one last view of Mount Suribachi before the credits begin.

[edit]Cast

Actor/Actress↓Role↓
Ken WatanabeArmy Lt. General Tadamichi Kuribayashi
Kazunari NinomiyaArmy Private First Class Saigo
Tsuyoshi IharaArmy Lt. Colonel/Baron Takeichi Nishi
Ryō KaseArmy Superior Private Shimizu
Shido NakamuraNavy Lieutenant Ito
Hiroshi WatanabeArmy Lieutenant Fujita
Takumi BandoArmy Captain Tanida
Yuki MatsuzakiArmy Private First Class Nozaki
Takashi YamaguchiArmy Private First Class Kashiwara
Eijiro OzakiArmy Lieutenant Okubo
Nae YuukiHanako, Saigo's wife
Nobumasa SakagamiAdmiral Ohsugi
Akiko ShimaLead Woman
Luke EberlSam, wounded American Marine (credited as Lucas Elliot)
Jeremy GlazerAmerican Marine Lieutenant (who arrests Saigo and takes him to the POW camp)
Ikuma AndoOzawa
Mark MosesAmerican Officer (who gave Kurabayashi an M1911 pistol before the war)
Roxanne HartOfficer's wife
All Japanese cast except for Ken Watanabe were selected through auditions.[citation needed] Kazunari Ninomiya is a member of the Japaneseboy-band "ARASHI".

[edit]Production

This section does not cite any references or sources.
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged andremoved. (November 2010)
The film was originally entitled Red Sun, Black Sand.[citation needed] Although the film is set in Japan, it was filmed primarily in Barstow andBakersfield in California. Filming in California wrapped on April 8, and the cast and crew then headed back to the studio in Los Angeles for more scenes before Eastwood, Watanabe and a skeleton crew made a quick one-day trip to Iwo Jima for some on-location shots.[citation needed] Principal photography finished in late 2006.[citation needed]
The filmmakers had to be given special permission from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government to film on Iwo Jima,[citation needed] because more than 10,000 missing Japanese soldiers still rest under its soil. The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) operates a naval air base onIwo Jima, which is used by the United States Navy for operations such as nighttime carrier landing practice. Civilian access to the island is restricted to those attending memorial services for fallen American Marines and Japanese soldiers.
The battleship USS Texas (BB-35), which was used in closeup shots of the fleet (for both movies) also participated in the actual attack on Iwo Jima.[citation needed] The only character to appear in both Flags of Our Fathers and Letters From Iwo Jima is Charles W. Lindberg, played by Alessandro Mastrobuono.

[edit]Home media release

Letters from Iwo Jima was released on DVD by Warner Home Video on May 22, 2007. It was also released on HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc. Furthermore it was made available for instant viewing with Netflix's "Watch Instantly" feature where available. The flim was rereleased in 2010 as part of Clint Eastwood's tribute collection Clint Eastwood: 35 Films 35 Years at Warner Bros.. The Two-Disc Special Collector's EditionDVD is also available in a Five-Disc Commemorative Set, which also includes the Two-Disc Special Collector's Edition of Flags of Our Fathers and a bonus fifth disc containing History Channel's "Heroes of Iwo Jima" documentary and To the Shores of Iwo Jima, a documentary produced by the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps.
The English dubbed version DVD was released on June 1, 2010.[4] This version was first aired on cable channel AMC on April 26, 2008.[5]

[edit]Critical reception

[edit]In the United States

The film received highly positive reviews, with the review tallying website Rotten Tomatoes reporting that 178 out of the 195 reviews they tallied were positive for a score of 91% and a certification of "fresh."[6] Lisa Schwartzbaum of Entertainment Weekly, Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times, and Richard Schickel of Time were among many critics to name it the best picture of the year. In addition, Peter Travers ofRolling Stone and Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune both gave it four stars, and Todd McCarthy of Variety praised the film, assigning it a rare 'A' rating.
On December 6, 2006, the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures named Letters from Iwo Jima the best film of 2006.[7][8] On December 10, 2006, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association named Letters from Iwo Jima Best Picture of 2006. Furthermore, Clint Eastwood was runner-up for directing honors.[9] In addition, the American Film Institute named it one of the 10 best films of 2006. It was also named Best Film in a Foreign Language on January 15 during the Golden Globe Awards. It had been nominated for Best Film in a Foreign Language; and Clint Eastwood held a nomination for Best Director.
CNN's Tom Charity in his review described Letters from Iwo Jima as "the only American movie of the year I won't hesitate to call a masterpiece."[10] On the "Best Films of the Year 2006" broadcast (December 31, 2006) of the television show Ebert & Roeper, Richard Roeper listed the film at #3 and guest critic A. O. Scott listed it at #1, claiming that the film was "close to perfect."
On January 23, 2007, the film received four Academy Award nominations. Eastwood was nominated for his directing, as well as Best Picture along with producers Steven Spielberg and Robert Lorenz. It was also nominated for Best Original Screenplay. The film took home one award, Best Sound Editing.

[edit]In Japan

The film has been far more commercially successful in Japan than in the U.S., ranking number 1 for five weeks. Though mostly appreciated for its empathetic view, the film has, however, received criticism from some Japanese moviegoers, including several staff members of the Association for the Advancement of Unbiased View of History (自由主義史観研究会?), who question the historical accuracy of its depiction of the Japanese military police, or the use of gairaigo terms like raifuru (ライフル?, "rifle") or jīpu (ジープ?, "Jeep") by Japanese Army soldiers, at a time when such practice was generally frowned upon.[11] Renowned nationalist and Prefectural Governor of Tokyo, Shintaro Ishihara, whose efforts and influence played a significant role in allowing the film's crew to shoot on Iwo Jima, criticized director Clint Eastwood's portrayal of American Marines. He stated that he believed Ore wa, Kimi no tame ni koso Shini ni iku (俺は、君のためにこそ死ににいく I Go to Die for You?), a film for which he wrote the screenplay and acted as executive director, was far superior to the Hollywood blockbuster.[12]
Several non-U.S. reviews, such as that of the Independent of the United Kingdom, took offense at the characterization of good officers solely as those having had experience in the U.S. Those viewers believed that these characteristics make it an American film presenting a vision of the Japanese that reflects American cultural values and perceptions, in stark contrast to its framing in the American press as a film in the "Japanese point of view".[13]
Yet, this film received a warm reception from both Japanese audiences and critics. Clint Eastwood presented Kuribayashi as "caring, erudite commander of Japan's Iwo Jima garrison, along with Japanese soldiers in general, in a sensitive, respectful way." [14] In addition, previous Hollywood films tended to portray Japanese characters with non-Japanese actors: Chinese-Americans, Japanese-Americans, etc. Consequently, incorrect Japanese grammar and accents were conspicuous in those former films, jarring the realism of those films for the Japanese audience.[15] However, due to the lack of stereotypes "Letters from Iwo Jima" was appreciated by Japanese critics and audiences.[16]
Despite rave reviews, the film only grossed $13.7 million domestically in the United States. Foreign sales of $54.9 million helped to boost revenue over production costs of $19 million.[1]

[edit]Top ten lists

The film appeared on many critics' top ten lists of the best films of 2006.[17]
General top ten

[edit]Accolades

Academy Awards record
1. Best Sound Editing
Golden Globe Awards record
1. Best Foreign Language Film

[edit]Won

[edit]Nominated




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