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Upcoming Release Calendar
38
12 Rounds Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
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Letters from Iwo Jima
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MPAA RATING: R for graphic war violence
Starring Ken Watanabe, Kazunari Ninomiya, Shido Nakamura, Tsuyoshi Ihara, Ryo Kase, Yuki Matsuzaki, Hiroshi Watanabe, and Takumi Bando
In this companion piece to "Flags of Our Fathers," Clint Eastwood presents the untold story of the Japanese soldiers and their general who 61 years ago defended against the invading American forces on the island of Iwo Jima. (Warner Bros.)
| GENRE(S): | Drama | War |
| WRITTEN BY: |
Iris Yamashita (also story)
Paul Haggis (story) Tadamichi Kuribayashi (book Picture Letters from Commander in Chief) Tsuyoko Yoshido (book editor) |
| DIRECTED BY: | Clint Eastwood |
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: May 22, 2007 Theatrical: December 20, 2006 |
| RUNNING TIME: | 141 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: | USA |
| LANGUAGE(S): | Japanese (with English subtitles) |
Received 4 Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture. Named 2006's best film by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and the National Board of Review. Also known as "Red Sun, Black Sand."
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
The average user rating for this movie is 8.1 (out of 10) based on 161 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Karen L gave it a5:
I was loving this movie. It was truly refreshing to see a crucial WWII battle from the Japanese point of view. In this film we see Japanese soldiers behaving both honorably and horribly. We see Japanese soldiers with a love for both honor and life. We also understand that so many suicides happened out of fear of their peers and officers. But then we see two American soldiers murder a pair of the few Japanese soldiers who actually surrendered on Iwo Jima. This is a such a complete lie that it instantly ruined the film's and Eastwood's credibility for me. Read any accurate history about this conflict and you'll discover that Japanese soldiers who actually did surrender were astounded by the compassion of the Americans. They had been taught to expect the worse. Yes that was the Japanese propaganda given to their soldiers. But our very own filmmakers feel compelled to propagandize the brutality of America. It's sadly ironic that a country that provides a director the freedom to combat propaganda chooses his medium to propagandize himself. This was and should have been a great film. It dies, like so many of those who committed suicide on that island, in a lie.
Kevin L. gave it a10:
This movie is absolutely beautiful. It's very touching. I'd recommend this over Flags of Our Fathers but that too is an amazing movie.
Brandon S. gave it a10:
I am rarely sucked into a movie so emotionally as this. It is supreme in its message as a war film, and you cannot help but feel for the characters as if they were real people. I felt a knot in my throat by the end of the movie. Extremely well done and highly recommended to anyone who is even slightly interested. You really get a feel for the Japanese culture at the time and the struggles and dilemmas these people had to endure.
The Spoiler gave it a4:
I’m so glad I saw this movie. I had been laboring under the misinformation that the battle of Iwo Jima was a ferocious battle between 25,000 Japanese defenders and an enormous Allied invasion fleet committed to taking the island. I had been taught that it was a life-or-death struggle with the Japanese defending an island stepping-stone to their homeland and the Americans fighting to the death knowing that they could never end the war without taking these islands. Thanks to ‘Letters,’ I now know that Iwo Jima was inhabited by what appeared to be a hundred or so lovable, neurotic, Japanese goofballs that spent most of their time running hither and yon avoiding shells and rifle-fire, or being threatened with beheading by a random panoply of over- stimulated and over-acting officers. The Japanese also kept themselves occupied by: being disobedient, hiding, yelling for no apparent reason, picking on each other, changing clothes, having diarrhea, questioning authority, abusing subordinates, countermanding orders, riding horses, drinking American Whiskey, reminiscing about things to boring to reminisce about, and occasionally having to deal with pesky Americans who only show up one or two at a time and seem to be surprised to find Japanese there. Oh, and let’s not forget the lost historic fact that there was a coup d’etat in which the General’s orders were ignored by a subordinate because he said the General was a “weak American sympathizer.” Boy, we could all take a history lesson from this movie…. Things eventually got so boring on Iwo that the commanding officer of the island took a while to have a chat with a wounded Marine, as he was curious as to where the man’s hometown was: thank goodness for all the interpersonal drama or I doubt there would have been much to do. This movie is an insult to the American and Japanese armed forces that fought on that tiny island. One of the most terrific battles ever known in human history took place there, a battle incomprehensible to we modern folk with our spoiled sense of patriotism. To render this historic commitment of life and courage into a weak soap-opera with some whiz-bang for background is reprehensible. That this deplorable mess could come from Clint Eastwood is only slightly more disappointing.
Ryan M. gave it a10:
possibly the best war movie of all time. What is so great about this movie is that it really shows that war is a living hell and it does an amazing job sending out that message. its compainion, Flag of our Fathers, is also pretty good, but letters from Iwo Jima is simply amazing.
Peter A. gave it a10:
War is Hell for anyone in or near it. Letters portrays it from the perspective of several Japanese soldiers based on letters written by them. While fiction, perhaps, in many specific details, the feel is authentic and the cinematography and acting is excellent. Most Japanese soldiers and officers were merciless brutes to their adversaries, their captives, the peoples they subjugated - and often their own people. However some were not. The tragedy of these individuals, trapped in the Japanese military culture and circumstances of their time is well illustrated by this film. I am thankful that the Japanese military culture was defeated. However, for those that condemn all Japanese because of their collective behavior in and before WWII, and can therefore see no merit in this film or any Japanese of the time - consider that in times past - many Americans of European descent treated the naive American indians in similar or worse ways.
Mark B. gave it a10:
This was a well done movie. I rarelly watch subtitled movies; However this movie keeept me spellboud to the end. I wanted to watch it again right away. Thumbs up movie!!!
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