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Letters from Iwo Jima

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Letters from Iwo Jima
硫黄島からの手紙
(Iō Jima Kara no Tegami)
File:Letters from iwo jima ver8.jpg
Directed byClint Eastwood
Written byScreenplay:
Iris Yamashita
Story:
Iris Yamashita
Paul Haggis
Book:
Tadamichi Kuribayashi
Tsuyuko Yoshido
Produced byClint Eastwood
Paul Haggis
Robert Lorenz
Steven Spielberg
StarringKen Watanabe
Kazunari Ninomiya
Tsuyoshi Ihara
Ryo Kase
Shidou Nakamura
CinematographyTom Stern
Edited byJoel Cox
Gary Roach
Music byKyle Eastwood
Michael Stevens
Distributed byWorldwide theatrical and DVD:
Warner Bros.
(DreamWorks was producer only)
Release dates
Japan December 9 2006
United States January 12 2007
United Kingdom March 29 2007
Running time
142 min
Countries Japan
 United States
LanguageJapanese
Budget$19,000,000[1]
Box office$68,670,923[1]

Letters from Iwo Jima (硫黄島からの手紙, Iō Jima Kara no Tegami) is a 2006 Academy Award and Golden Globe-winning critically-acclaimed[1][2][3] war film whose cast includes Ken Watanabe and Kazunari Ninomiya. Directed by Clint Eastwood, Letters 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 made and co-produced between an American and Japanese production company.

The film was released in Japan on December 9, 2006 and received a limited release in the United States on December 20 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 by January 19.

Source

The film is based on the nonfiction books Picture Letters from Commander in Chief [4] by General Tadamichi Kuribayashi (portrayed on screen by Ken Watanabe) and So Sad To Fall In Battle: An Account of War [5] 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.

Detailed story

The film begins in the present on Iwo Jima. Japanese archaeologists, exploring tunnels dug prior to the American invasion, find a site and the scene changes to Iwo Jima in 1944.

File:Letters5.jpg
General Kuribayashi inspecting the island defenses in Iwo Jima.

Private First Class Saigo, a baker conscripted into the Imperial Japanese Army, and his platoon are grudgingly digging beach trenches on the island. Meanwhile, Lieutenant General Tadamichi Kuribayashi arrives to take command of the garrison, accompanied by his ADC, Lieutenant Fujita. Met by the island's naval commander, Rear Admiral Ohsugi, and the deputy army commander, Major General Hayashi, he immediately begins an inspection of the island defenses. In particular, he orders the men to stop digging trenches on the beach and begin tunnelling defenses into Mount Suribachi. Kuribayashi encounters Captain Tanida beating Saigo and his friend, Kashiwara, for their disloyalty. Tanida is ordered to stop, with the reminder that a good commander uses his head more than his whip.

On another evening, Lieutenant Colonel Baron Takeichi Nishi, a famous Olympic gold medalist show jumper, now commanding the 26th Tank Regiment, joins Kuribayashi for dinner. The two men are cavalry officers who do not follow the fanatical militarism of many of their comrades. Nishi tells Kuribayashi that the prospect of the Imperial Japanese Navy supporting Iwo Jima is non-existent; much of the Japanese Combined Fleet under Admiral Jisaburo Ozawa has been destroyed at the Battle of the Philippine Sea. Kuribayashi evacuates the civilian population of Iwo Jima to mainland Japan. He clashes with some of his senior officers, including Hayashi and Ohsugi, who do not agree with his strategy of defending the inland areas instead of the beaches. Kuribayashi believes the Americans will quickly take the beaches.

Poor nutrition and unsanitary conditions take their toll on the garrison; many die of dysentery. Japanese troops begin using the caves as barracks. A young soldier, Superior Private Shimizu, arrives for duty on the island, replacing Kashiwara, who has died of dysentery. Saigo and his friends suspect that Shimizu is a spy sent from Kempeitai to report on "disloyal" soldiers.

The first American aerial bombings occur shortly after, forcing the Japanese to dig deeper into the volcanic island. Kuribayashi sends an ailing Admiral Ohsugi back to Japan, asking for and getting Rear Admiral Toshinosuke Ichimaru in his place. Almost all the aircraft on the island are withdrawn on orders from headquarters. The battle for Iwo Jima begins.

The Japanese beach defenses are quickly overcome and the attack turns to the defensive positions on Mount Suribachi. Tanida dispatches Saigo to carry a message to Mount Suribachi's commander, Colonel Adachi, requesting more machine guns. Saigo overhears General Kuribayashi, speaking over radio, ordering Colonel Adachi to tell his men to retreat northward, but Adachi instead gives Saigo a note ordering Captain Tanida and his men to commit suicide. Captain Tanida obeys this order, shooting himself in the head. One by one, most of the remaining soldiers, including Nozaki, kill themselves with their own hand grenades. Saigo, however, runs away and leaves the cave with Shimizu, convincing him that it is more productive to continue the fight rather than to die.

The two men flee through the tunnels, eventually encountering more troops who are ambushed by American troops. They come across several soldiers beating and killing a captured American soldier. Eventually they make it to another cave system commanded by Lieutenant Ito, the former commander of the island's naval air forces. Ito is about to behead them with his sword for leaving Suribachi, when General Kuribayashi appears and saves Saigo for a second time. Kuribayashi says that he ordered the retreat.

The soldiers from the caves attempt a futile attack against American positions. Nishi's men capture a wounded U.S. Marine, Sam, and Nishi orders his medic to give him aid despite the Japanese's dwindling medical supplies. Despite their efforts, the Marine dies. Nishi reads a letter the American received from his mother. They are reminded that the Americans are men like themselves, with families, hopes, and fears.

As a bomb hits Nishi's cave, he looks, trying to shoot U.S. Marines, who return fire. Nishi is badly wounded and blinded. His men bind his wounds, and Nishi orders them to another position on the island. After leaving that position, they hear the shot of Nishi committing suicide with his rifle.

File:Letters1.jpg
Boy band singer and actor Kazunari Ninomiya as Private First Class Saigo.

Shimizu divulges to Saigo that he had been dishonorably discharged from the Kempeitai after five days' service because he refused to obey a superior's order to kill a family's barking dog. He was then reassigned to Iwo Jima. This causes Saigo's attitude towards Shimizu to soften considerably. Shimizu breaks down and fearfully asks Saigo to surrender with him. He flees the cave with another soldier, but before Saigo can follow, Lieutenant Okubo, Col. Nishi's deputy, appears and shoots the other soldier for desertion.

Soon, Shimizu surrenders to a U.S. Marine patrol and finds himself in the company of another Japanese soldier who had surrendered. One of the American guards, who does not want to be burdened with POWs, later shoots them. The dead soldiers are discovered by the Japanese and Lieutenant Okubo points it out as a lesson for anyone else who wishes to surrender. Saigo puts Shimizu's senninbari on his dead body.

Saigo and the remaining survivors eventually meet up with Kuribayashi, who recognizes Saigo. One last attack with all the remaining men is planned. Kuribayashi orders Saigo to stay behind and destroy all the documents, including his own letters to his family. Kuribayashi saves Saigo's life a third time. Kuribayashi and his remaining troops launch their final, fateful attack, and Kuribayashi is critically wounded.

The loyal Fujita drags Kuribayashi away from the battle. The next morning, with defeat looming, Kuribayashi orders Fujita to behead him. However, as Fujita raises his sword the lieutenant is shot dead by an American sniper. Saigo appears at this moment, having buried the documents in the cave. Kuribayashi asks Saigo, "Is this still Japanese soil?" Saigo assures him, "Yes, it is still Japan." Summoning his last reserves of strength, the very weak Kuribayashi asks Saigo to bury him so that nobody will find him then draws his sidearm, a Colt 1911 pistol that was a gift from American military friends during his stay in the United States in the late 1920s. The general shoots himself in the chest and dies. Saigo carries away the dead general and buries his body off-screen (Kuribayashi's body was never found).

Upon his return, Saigo finds that a patrol of American soldiers have claimed Kuribayashi's pistol and Fujita's sword as war trophies. Upon seeing the unique pearl-handled Colt 1911 tucked into a Marine officer's belt, he swings wildly at the Americans with his shovel. Eventually Saigo is knocked unconscious by a Marine with a rifle butt to the back of the head and is eventually taken on to a U.S. aid station on the beach. He sees the sinking sun and grins weakly.

The scene shifts back to the Japanese archaeologists in the cave in 2005 who uncover the bag of letters written by Japanese soldiers on the island, never sent, that Saigo buried in 1945. As the letters fall from the bag, the voices of the fallen Japanese are heard reading from them.

Production

The film was originally entitled Red Sun, Black Sand (see Letters from Iwo Jima, DVD version, Disc 2).

File:Clint eastwood4.jpg
Clint Eastwood directing Ken Watanabe through an interpreter.

Although the film is set in Japan, it was filmed primarily in Barstow and Bakersfield 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 1-day trip to Iwo Jima for some on location shots.

The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) operates a naval air base on Iwo 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 American and Japanese fallen soldiers. The location was used under a special permission from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, because more than 10,000 missing Japanese soldiers still rest under the soil.

Filming finished in late 2006.

DVD 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. It was also made available for instant viewing with Netflix's "Watch Instantly" feature where available

The Two-Disc Special Collector's Edition DVD 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 US Navy and Marine Corps.

Critical reception

The film received highly positive reviews in the American sphere, with the review tallying website Rotten Tomatoes reporting that 168 out of the 184 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 Schnickel of Time were among many critics to name it the best picture of the year. In addition, Peter Travers of Rolling Stone and Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune both gave it 4-stars, and Todd McCarthy of Variety praised the film, assigning it a rare 'A' rating.

On December 62006, the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures named Letters from Iwo Jima the best film of 2006. [7][8] On December 102006, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association named Letters from Iwo Jima Best Picture of 2006. Furthermore, director 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.com'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 23 January 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. The film also received nominations for Original Screenplay and Sound Editing.

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 the gairaigo terms like ライフル (rifle) or 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 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]

Furthermore, 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]

Cast

Actor Role
Ken Watanabe Army Lt. General Tadamichi Kuribayashi
Kazunari Ninomiya Army Private First Class Saigo
Tsuyoshi Ihara Army Lt. Colonel/Baron Takeichi Nishi
Ryo Kase Army Superior Private Shimizu
Shido Nakamura Navy Lieutenant Ito
Hiroshi Watanabe Army Lieutenant Fujita
Takumi Bando Army Captain Tanida
Yuki Matsuzaki Army Private First Class Nozaki
Nae Yuuki Hanako (Saigo's wife)
Nobumasa Sakagami Admiral Ohsugi
Akiko Shima Lead Woman (Patriotic Women's Assoc.)
Lucas Elliott Sam (wounded American Marine)
Mark Moses American Officer (in a flash back)
Roxanne Hart Officer's Wife

Awards

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

Won

Nominated

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Letters from Iwo Jima at Box Office Mojo
  2. ^ Please use a more specific IMDb template. See the documentation for available templates.
  3. ^ "Letters from Iwo Jima (Two-Disc Special Edition) (2007)". Amazon.com.
  4. ^ Kuribayashi, T. (Yoshida, T., editor) Picture Letters from Commander in Chief ("Gyokusai Soshireikan" no Etegami). Shogakukan, Tokyo, April 2002, 254p, ISBN 4-09-402676-2 Template:Ja icon
  5. ^ Kakehashi, K. So Sad To Fall In Battle: An Account of War (Chiruzo Kanashiki). Shinchosha, Tokyo, July 2005, 244p, ISBN 4-10-477401-4 Template:Ja icon / Presidio Press, January 2007, 240p, ISBN 0-89141903-9Template:En icon
  6. ^ Letters from Iwo Jima at Rotten Tomatoes Retrieved on 2007-11-08.
  7. ^ "Eastwood's 'Letters' named 2006's best". CNN. Retrieved 2006-12-06.
  8. ^ "Awards for 2006". National Board of Review of Motion Pictures. Retrieved 2006-12-07.
  9. ^ "Awards for 2006". Los Angeles Film Critics Association. Retrieved 2006-12-10.
  10. ^ "Review: 'Letters from Iwo Jima' a masterpiece". CNN. Retrieved 2007-01-09.
  11. ^ "Offical Association for the Advancement of Unbiased View of History Weblog".
  12. ^ "Ryuganji Movie Website".
  13. ^ "Review: 'Letters from Iwo Jima'". The Independent (UK). Retrieved 2007-03-07.
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Preceded by Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film
2007 		Succeeded by
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