4/5 Great Film Footage, But Some Modern Historic Rewrite
  by Kim Weighous (Reno, NV)
First the good - This documentary contains almost exclusively excellent color footage from Iwo and several other battles, a rarity even in the best WWII documentaries, and well worth the price of admission for WWII buffs. The actual story is well told, if incompletely. The interviews with the veterans of the battle are good, and are sure to become more valuable historically as the old heros pass away. They remind me of some of the stories I heard growing up as a boomer in a neighborhood populated mostly by South Pacific veterans, who were the dads of my friends.

Now the bad - My problem with this story is mostly with the "Prologue" section, which attempts to present the U.S. and Japan as competing nations who went to war basically to win trading rights with China. China at this time was an insignificant trading partner with the U.S., and the U.S. would have never gone to war for this reason. This a typical modern attempt to shift blame for the war to the U.S. The documentary goes on to state that Japan's expansion would have been complete once it controlled the South Pacific - more pure fantasy. Japanese doctrine clearly states that rule "of the four corners of the earth" was the Emporer's devine right, and the conquest of the United States was the last phase of world domination, as layed out in the Tanaka Memorial. General Yamamoto himself stated several days after Pearl Harbor that he would march his armies into Washington D.C. and dictate terms of surrender to the president. Japan and Germany both openly stated repeatedly that they would conquer the the world, and set about doing just that. To state Japan would be satisfied once they conquered the Pacific is not only historical folly, it demeans the U.S. as just a competing nation for world dominance. The truth is the U.S. was a reluctant participant in WWII and went to war only after attacked. When the U.S. finished liberating half the world at a terrible price in blood and capital, for the most part they went home like the true heroes these men were, and still are.

5/5 Excellent Documentary
  by Derrik Mantel (Maplewood, MN USA)
I am very satisfied by this DVD set. It contains numerous interviews with veterans of the campaign. It also interviews numerous historians to get their perspective. It makes good use of color film whenever possible.

It is a 3 dvd set and 5.5 hours in length. A world war II buff won't be disappointed with this set. It has segments on the prelude to Iwo Jima, and a brief hour on the aftermath of Iwo Jima and the Okinawa invasion. The main documentary (2.5 hours) is direct coverage of the Iwo Jima invasion. It is all color film. There is a great scene of an observation aircraft filming a flame-thrower tank. The veteran interviews are moving and eye-opening. I finished watching with an uneasy and sad set of emotions. The documentary is that good.

Did you know that the Japanese used rocket-propelled, human-piloted bombs dropped from twin engine planes as one form of Kamikaze attack?
Did you know that American pilots on Iwo Jima were attacked in their camps by lingering Japanese that had been thought to have been mopped up?
Did you know that the Japanese were taking refuge up to 5-stories deep in the island?

Just some of the many things I learned.

I have found the Timeless Media Group to produce some excellent DVD box sets. I hope they continue to live up to this level of quality.