Charming and brutal

Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

This is a documentary of the taking of the Pacific island of Iwo Jima. Thousands of Americans died here, and many thousand of Japanese soldiers, virtually all of whom refused to surrender. We know now that many of the interconnected caves were "Booby trapped" to kill and maim those who came into them. This makes the brutal flame throwing "Pacification" a lot more understandable. I find it interesting that a lot of folks mention the politically incorrect terms used in the film- "Japs" and "Nips." Get over it folks. If these soldiers were shooting at you, you would likely come up with some even stronger epithets. Political correctness is deadly in war. Your enemy is trying to kill you. You HAVE to see him objectified to justify killing him first.That said- the Japanese government full well understood the strategic importance of Iwo Jima and the island was fortified to the hilt of their considerable capabilities and the soldiers had orders to kill anyone of them who surrendered. They were literally ordered to fight to the death. It's difficult to watch this movie and not feel how truly awful war is. These soldiers endured almost constant combat for 28 days. One wonders if many of the youth of today could withstand this intensity for even 28 MINUTES. My thinking is that these young folks of today would grow up in a real hurry. Many would have to shed dozens of years of false programming about reality however. Real war is NOT a video game. You can end up dead real quickly, or be maimed for life. It is for keeps. The photography is pretty good, it's said four combat photographers died in this effort and eleven more wounded. In real war even the photographers get killed. My copy, from the "Film Detective" lists it as "Restored" but there are numerous spots where film damage presents itself. Further the resolution is not the best, my guess is around VHS level resolution. These defects prevent me from giving it a higher rating. This film is both a warning about the horrors of war and also the incredible cost of war, in lives snuffed out and ruined. There are shots of the dead, but in keeping with the public release there are no ghastly shots of people dying in the flame thrower footage. This is an important film that warns us about war, the cost and the sacrifices necessary to win it. It is very "real" in a way that even the highest resolution video trickery can never replicate.God Bless the warriors who fought to save our nation. Though their numbers may dwindle I pray their spirit lives on in our young of today.

The Oscar-nominated "To the Shores of Iwo Jima" focuses on the US army's efforts to take the famous island, and features footage of the Marines raising the flag on Mt. Suribachi. Naturally the narration uses a racial epithet for the Japanese and the footage towards the end shows US forces using questionable methods to go after the Japanese forces. A lot of intense stuff here.But I'd say that the most important thing involving the raising of the flag wasn't known until years later. You see, one of the men who raised the flag was Ira Hayes, an Apache Indian. In the years after the war, Hayes drank himself to death. He was the subject of a song by Johnny Cash.Anyway, it's an OK documentary short. The main gist is that no matter what horror the men taking the island faced, they pressed on because they knew that the world was counting on them. Their country certainly was. The documentary's worth seeing.

*Spoiler/plot- 1945, The US Marines attack the first Japanese strong hold to start their invasion into mainland Japan.*Special Stars- The FIVE flag-raisers on Mount Suribachi.*Theme- Battles rely on key points of pressure by military force.*Trivia/location/goofs- American documentary, nominated for Oscar, 4 camera persons killed and 11 wounded during the shooting of this film*Emotion- An enjoyable documentary made up of live action combat or newsreel footage. However, there are the unpleasant shots of injured Americans and killed Japanese with some blatant racism in the form of the word use of 'Japs or 'Nips'. But it is extremely educational and does what a narrative simulated war film can do.

To the Shores of Iwo Jima (1945) *** (out of 4) According to the IMDb, four men were killed and ten others were wounded while making this documentary, which shows actual footage of the Iwo Jima battle. The battle scenes are quite remarkable and are shown in vivid color but there's also several violent moments where we see dead Americans and their mutated bodies. There's also another scene where we're shown the Americans setting fire to a fox hole where several Japanese soldiers are. The documentary goes on to show the bodies of these men on fire. Received an Oscar nomination.