3.5/4  Capital Letters
Clint Eastwood goes above and beyond what he accomplished with Flags of Our Fathers. That was a compelling and powerful piece of work about the effect war had on America, but to see the same situation occur to another country goes to anoth... (read full)

3/4  Letters from Iwo Jima
It's nice to see a World War II film from the Japanese's perspective. There are a lot of elements working together here which made this film ferociously effective. Themes of bravery, honor, decisions, betrayals, and truths were consistent ... (read full)

3/4  Letters from Iwo Jima Quick Review
An excellent war film.

2.5/4  Letters from Iwo Jima Quick Review
A decent flick. It's nothing to get excited about though.

3/4  Letters from Iwo Jima Quick Review
I like this movie, but I am not sure what all the hype is? It was really good to know the Japanese side of things and to allow Americans to understand this is worth the cost of admission. But, it was a little long and rather unimpressive.

5/5 "Patriotism" - a concept for fools
  by Sexy Bachelor (Singapore)
"Damn this island! The Americans can have it!", exclaims Saigo, the baker-turned reluctant Jap soldier, as he digs into a beach trench in the opening scene.

I'm a pacifist. I don't like war movies with senseless violence. I wanted to give this movie 1 star before I even watched it, but somehow, I find myself giving this 5 stars because of the human face it portrays behind all those solider-victims who were drafted and sent off to die by war-mongering politicians and their high military command. This movie reminded me of Emma Goldman's essay on "patriotism" which exposes the lies that the military-industrial complex in society wants us to mold all male behavior into. I don't admire any war or military force from any country. They're all puppets of politicians. You can see some of these structures being played out in this movie. The most lowly soldier doesn't have a say in anything except to obey reluctantly - all in the name of his freaking "country".

This movie tells a war story from the eyes of the Jap solider, two in particular - the youthful and low-ranking Saigo and the highest ranking Lieutenant General Tadamichi Kuribayashi.

The war to defend the island of Iwo Jima was doomed from the start. Without Jap Imperial air and naval support or ground reinforcements, the island couldn't be defended effectively. Lieutenant General Tadamichi Kuribayashi and the other Jap commanders are soon made aware of this fact, but had to stand ground and couldn't retreat because Tokyo HQ didn't want them to. That evil merciless Emperor! So, here we are viewing and listening to the inner thoughts of the Jap soldiers as they do what they were told to do, will all, save for lucky Saigo, end up dying by the end of the movie.

The opening scene starts off with Saigo digging a beach trench and venting his frustrations at the war. Unbeknowest to him, his "unpatriotic" comments were overhead by both his buddy and his strict, "patrotic" captain who took offense at insults to the Imperial Army. Saigo and his buddy were both beaten with a stick by the captain. Scene 2 shows Lieutenant General Tadamichi Kuribayashi (Ken Watanabe of "The Last Samurai") arriving on a plane onto the island of Iwo Jima and briefed by one of the island's commanders. He chances upon Saigo being beaten at the beach, halts the punishment and immediately tells the beach defenders to quit digging beach trenches and to move inland. This encounter with lowly Saigo is to be the first of several throughout the movie as we track Saigo's "lucky streaks" with death and war, right to his final encounter with the General in the final scene where he was ordered to bury the dead General, before Saigo ends up getting whacked unconscious by an invading American soldier.

To be continued.....


Recommended reading:

Anarchism and other essays

4/5 Not a Historical Document!!
  by B. Liao (USA)
I enjoy the movie, but don't ever expect the "kind" treatment if you ever captured in a war against the Japanese. Yes Japanese did surrender and stop the samurai spirit bull crap, they are as scared as the American soldiers, or else there wouldn't be one Japanese left on this earth...Good bluray transfer..

5/5 Could be Eastwood's best work to date...
  by William R. Andrews (Los Angeles, California, USA)
This is not a war film that will be accessible to every viewer, especially those who are only used to soaking up the typical American propaganda war films of the past half century. Of course there are going to be those right winged/ 'wannabe pushovers' who will automatically be persuaded to call out this film as: "rewriting history," when, in reality, they have NO clue/ concept of what actually occurred during this part of history from the POV of the Japanese soldiers, (and still consider any "enemy" to the US as nothing more than "savages.") The fact of the matter is, the film is a true masterpiece of artistic cinema. Many people seem to forget the notion that film = art. "Letters" is NOT a documentary film; it is a filmic portrait of a generally unknown/misunderstood piece of modern history. I would say this subtle masterpiece is Eastwood's best work to date. Though I am sure there are those who would disagree.

4/5 Letter from Iwo Jima
  by Curtis W. Johnson (Pittsburgh, PA)
I watched Flags of Our Fathers first before watching "Letters..". It was enlightening to see and try to understand the mentality of the Japanese military men as individuals and how they perceived the fight for Iwo Jima. Kudos to Clint Eastwood for putting out these two fine films. Very enjoyable.

4/5 A must see for war enthusiasts
  by twist of 8 (Southeastern Mass.)
My 15 year old son begged me to buy this as the first blu-ray disc to be seen on our new flatscreen. He's seen it three times and knows it by heart. He is fascinated about the history of WWII, weaponry, strategy, etc. This movie gave a unique perspective through the enemies' eyes and makes the viewer realize that we are more the same than we are different.