Good idea lost in the noise

Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

This second film on the battle of Iwo Jima is from the point of view of the Japanese and based on a collection of letters the Japanese soldiers received or wrote during the battle, letters that were never dispatched or were never distributed, and were incidentally saved by probably the sole survivor of the battle, a survivor who only survived due to a set of circumstances that saved his life three times during the whole battle. This Japanese soldier put the letters in a leather bag and buried them in one of the caves used by the commander of the Japanese troops. The bag of letters was found when some Japanese workers started working recently on the island to turn it into some kind of memorial. The film shows with a lot of crude truthfulness the life of these soldiers - and officers - who knew from the very start that they were all going to die on this island for no reason whatsoever but for the Emperor and the Empire, even though this Emperor and this Empire were doomed to get to their dead end of a final destination. The life of the soldiers is brutal and the officers are divided. A new commander arrives for the battle and some flashbacks show how attached to the USA he was and yet he will be wounded and will die, by his own hand with a Colt that had been presented to him by some American important people in some kind of celebration in the USA before the war. An allusion to the 1932 Los Angeles Olympic Games is quite pregnant in this context. This commander could be humane in this context, both for his troops and for the one and only prisoner he made. Apart from this one he provided with some medical and communicational comfort while he was dying, no other prisoner was made and two Japanese prisoners were made on the American side and the two GIs who were supposed to look after them took the decision to kill them, one GI by shooting the two bullets and the other GI as an accessory to this crime.This battle was a battle without any prisoners, except the simple soldier who had been saved from a vicious caning at the beginning, then from a sectarian beheading from some fundamentalist patriotic officer, and finally from the final assault by the commanding officer of the battle. This soldier witnessed the final suicide of this commanding officer who was severely wounded and committed suicide with the Colt he was presented as a gift long before the war, hence dying from an American bullet. The surviving Japanese soldier buried his commanding officer so that he would not be taken away from this Japanese land, just before being made prisoner. Nothing is said about his future.The film also shows, particularly with the letters the soldiers are writing to their families that are quoted all along the drastic horror they have to live through. They are also divided between very few wanting to surrender, many being tired and bored with the war but ready to go on to the final end, and a certain proportion, particularly among officers, ready to consider dying in such a butchery is an honor, a heroic honor. Clint Eastwood and Steven Spielberg do not go beyond and hardly show real Japanese society, except in some flashbacks about before the war, about before being drafted into the war, or even a few about the real survival conditions of the wives and children left behind. War is a drastic event and there is no one side in such an event that is clean. Since 1945 and this second world war, all wars were lost by the western powers who waged them, be it Great Britain, the USA, France, and even the USSR as an eastern power. Wars are numerous but always limited in scope and even terrorism is limited and would be a lot more limited if the west, globally or partially, had not provoked the Muslim world with the war in Afghanistan and then the war in Iraq and then the war in Syria, in other words a never-ending war in the Middle East started in 2001 and still going on with the USA trying to play their own and singlehanded game as if they were God Almighty. And of course they are unable to concede a defeat and after Obama had tried to step back and out of the muddy quicksands, the USA is back on the war track and the tomahawks they brandish are missiles. The two films, Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima, are a real manifesto to our most humane mental reality to make us understand there is no glory in war, no heroism in war, no future in war, and yet some have difficulties, and at times many difficulties to understand there must be an end in everything. It is amazing how people who have never had a war in their own street and in their backyards are unable to see the horror of such events and are ready to pay for such brutal and cruel selfish violence that achieve so little positive results, including pay for substitutes when they are drafted into such a war.Dr. Jacques COULARDEAU

You have probably seen many classic old war films of the war in the pacific John Wayne 'Sands of Iwo Jima' etc. This film is a modern classic and (unusually) telling the story through the eyes of a young Japanese soldier. I certainly think Clint Eastwood has shown a lot of talent as a director with this and other films. All the acting is good, the filming and combat scenes grittly realistic. The Americans slowly take the island despite fierce resistance from the Japanese. Whats interesting was seeing the Japanese not just as frothing suicidal banzai fanatics willing to die for the Emperor. but actually as real people. Led by their General who knew their only hope was to cause so much casualties to the Americans that they would rethink invading Japan. Possibly a definition of a classic film is one that you can watch many times because the story, the acting and filming engross you (like a good book). Definitely a classic on the tragedy and futility of war. 8.5/10

It's 1944 Iwo Jima. Private Saigo was a baker who left behind his pregnant wife. General Kuribayashi (Ken Watanabe) arrives to take charge of the island's defense. He's familiar with the west and abandons the trenches on the beach. Lieutenant Colonel Nishi was a gold medal show jumper in the 1932 L.A. Olympics. He informs Kuribayashi of the massive losses at the Marianas. There is no hope of reinforcements and the coming battle is unwinnable.This is a Hollywood movie with the uniforms switched. The Americans are mostly nameless, faceless soldiers. This movie stays with the Japanese throughout. It's a little slow at the beginning as the characters are introduced. It tries to tie up the beginning and ending with the discovery of letters. It's not that compelling. It would much more compelling to present the letters to a surviving family member. The opening could also be the battle in the Marianas which could add some action. It's over forty minutes before the war action begins. The characters are well drawn and the acting is first rate. There are certain strictly delineated morality in the characters that are very much traditional Hollywood. This is a compelling war movie.

This film recreates the Battle of Iwo Jima from the perspective of Japanese soldiers who fought there. Directed by Clint Eastwood, the film has screenplay by Iris Yamashita and the participation of Ken Watanabe, Tsuyoshi Ihara and Kazunari Ninomiya.This film follows another, "Flags of our Fathers", and isn't just another war film focused on World War II. This film shows the crudeness of war, especially in its psychological and human aspect. It seeks to show that, in war, there are no winners or losers because everyone loses, there are no good guys or bad guys, but survivors. Japan, during this historical period, had a mentality focused on patriotism, honor and worship to victory. For them, losing was less dishonorable than escape, in a militaristic code very similar to what was adopted by the Spartans before. Another point raised by the film, although in a more subtle way, is the wartime advertising: for the Japanese, the enemy was always demonized for instigating soldiers to fight to the end, following the precepts of their militarist philosophy and honor code.The actors were up to the challenge, particularly Ken Watanabe, whose character, General Kuribayashi, represents the contradictions of war: after studying and living in the United States before the war, he was now fighting the Americans and taking advantage of his knowledge of their military tactics to anticipate their movements. The use of Japanese language in the film really helped to make it more genuine and also sounds nice. The photograph, heavy and gray, fits well in a film like this and there are certain scenes when it contributes greatly to its beauty. The costumes and weapons are historically accurate and the special, visual and sound effects have enormous quality. The sound is really good and gives great impact to combat scenes. The soundtrack, written by Kyle Eastwood and Michael Stevens, is very interesting, especially the main theme, with a slightly oriental sounding, like a melancholic wail.I usually don't like a lot of Clint Eastwood movies, but I must say I was impressed with this. It deserves to be seen by all who like a good war movie, action or a movie linked to historical events. If it's true that all those who don't remember History are doomed to repeat it, this movie might help that this never happens again.