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Letters from Iwo JimaClint Eastwood shot Flags Of Our Fathers and Letters From Iwo Jima back-to-back, the aim to show one of the key battles of WW2 from both sides. While the first film was dominated by reflections on the nature of heroism, this is a much subtler work and an altogether more resonant anti-war statement.
The Japanese island stronghold was taken by US troops in early 1945, after more than a month of intense fighting and thousands of deaths. The Americans had anticipated a five-day confrontation: the Japanese held on for 35, despite being heavily outnumbered. Rather than present their stand as a feat of gung-ho heroics, Eastwood portrays it for what it was - a combination of great guile on the part of the Japanese commander, General Kuribayashi (Watanabe), with the sort of "heroism" that is instinctive, patriotic and accidental.
Eastwood and his cinematographer Tom Stern adopt an even more desaturated look than in Flags, one which heightens the debilitating effect on the Japanese soldiers of the long stay on - and below - the grey volcanic earth of the island. The film opens with their preparations for the American invasion, digging miles of tunnels in which they will hide and surprise the attacking soldiers. Not all of these men fit the stereotype of the Japanese soldier. Unlike the Americans, they know for certain that they won't be going home, and their reactions include resignation, fear and anger. "Damn this island," says one. "The Americans can have it."
Among those we meet are Saigo, a baker who wants nothing more than to return to his pregnant wife; Lieutenant Ito, a demented traditionalist who would rather accept suicide than surrender; and Baron Nishi, an Olympic equestrian, a civilised officer from the old school, who has lived in and appreciated America.
The humour and dignity demonstrated by these two men, and the survival instincts of the Everyman Saigo, provide the heart of a film which, by its nature, is dominated by violence. Once the action starts, the biggest impression is not made by the vast fleet or the intense bombing that scorches the island, but by the psychological and emotional torment of the men underground. Here, Eastwood presents some potent flipsides to scenes from Flags: most notably, while in that film we watched the Americans react to the gory remains of enemy suicides, here we see the deed itself - a captain ordering his men to kill themselves with their own grenades. It's a terrible moment in a film full of such.
Inspired by the hundreds of letters found on the island after the war, written by the soldiers to their loved ones, this humane film eschews caricature for a compassionate view of the usually demonized Japanese military mindset. Watanabe's beautifully nuanced performance is key, his general an able man whose love of family and inherent decency are as strong as his patriotism.
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