Letters From Iwo Jima

This past weekend we had the opportunity to view Letters From Iwo Jima, Clint Eastwood's companion piece to Flags Of Our Fathers.

Upon my first viewing of the film, I found it quite disappointing. The battle of Iwo Jima was the biggest Marine battle of World War 2, lasting more than a month and resulting in thousands and thousands of deaths. However, this film doesn't show much of the battle. The timeline is greatly condensed and it's hard to know exactly how long things have been happening. The film showed very little fighting, spending most of its more than 2 hours with the Japanese soldiers hiding in their caves.

Upon my second viewing of the film, I loved it. It is almost a masterpiece if you go in knowing it is not primarily a war movie; it is more a drama and a tragedy wrapped in war movie packaging. It is one of the saddest films I've seen. It is beautifully filmed. The coloring is very similar to old black-and-white films: colors are faded and it relies heavily on the use of shadows, which gives it an amazing look. The characters are likeable, for the most part, and the actors are superb. Clint Eastwood directs the film and gives it an almost poetic feel.

But it is not perfect. The lack of battle scenes causes the film to drag at times. Some parts feel a bit rushed. But it is nonetheless powerful and moving. Although not entirely historically accurate, it still gives us at least somewhat of a look into the Japanese side of the War and what drove them. They did the things they did because that is all they were taught. Of course, their brutal tactics cannot be excused, but they are more understandable now. The only other flaw in the film is that it does sympathize with them a bit too much. But for the most part it provides a powerful look at the other side during the battle of Iwo Jima.

One thing I appreciated was the lack of extreme language. There was still too much swearing (7 D words and 2 S words, the S words being used descriptively rather than as exclamations), but nowhere near any of the other recent major war films, namely, Saving Private Ryan, Black Hawk Down, or Flags Of Our Fathers. Those films all contain more than a dozen F words, extreme abuses of the Lord's name, and some off-color humor or references, however brief. That's something I really appreciated about the wonderful indie film, Saints and Soldiers. The edited version I own has no cussing, and the film is no less powerful than if it had included those words. Even without them, audiences still realize that some of the characters probably did swear. The character of Gunderson, for example, doesn't swear in the edited version, but the actor's portrayal of the character's personality suggests that he probably does swear. However, we don't have to be defiled to realize this. Also, it is historically inaccurate. Yes, many soldiers did and do cuss, but many do not. Most films seem to focus only on those who do, which is unfortunate.

And just because I said there weren't a ton of battle scenes, please don't think that means there wasn't graphic violence. When there was fighting (or scenes of suicide), it was quite bloody. (The following describes the violence in the film; not for the squeamish). A whole room full of Japanese blow themselves up by holding grenades to their chests, and we see blood fly and then see them in the background with their flesh ripped off and their organs viewable. We see a man with his arm blown half off and blood pouring out of the wound as he dies. Blood splurts from bullet wounds. Several Japanese are set on fire. An American is punched and bayoneted to death. Two Japanese prisoners are shot. A Japanese man shoots himself in the head, which we don't see, but do see his blood splatter on another man's face.

The violence, however, is nowhere near its counterpart, Flags Of Our Fathers, which, according to reviews I've read, greatly exceeds even Saving Private Ryan as the bloodiest war film to date.

So, in the end, Letters is a well-done film, but not the greatest of all time. It is great, just not the greatest. It is powerful and the soundtrack is powerful, although they could have added some more music, as the main theme is pretty much the only theme throughout the whole film. But it works. I give Letters 8/10 stars artistically. But Christian viewers will want to take caution due to the violence and brief, but unnecessary language.

God bless!

Geno

P.S. We're going to be getting an edited version of Flags Of Our Fathers. I'll try to write a review of it after I see it. It'll be a few weeks though.