Letters from Iwo Jima

Letters from Iwo Jima
Theatrical poster
Directed by	Clint Eastwood
Produced by	Clint Eastwood Robert Lorenz Steven Spielberg
Written by	Paul Haggis (story) Iris Yamashita (screenplay) Tadamichi Kuribayashi Tsuyuko Yoshido (book)
Starring	Ken Watanabe Kazunari Ninomiya Tsuyoshi Ihara Ryō Kase Nakamura Shidō
Music by	Kyle Eastwood Michael Stevens Clint Eastwood (uncredited)
Cinematography	Tom Stern
Editing by	Joel Cox Gary D. Roach
Studio	Malpaso Productions Amblin Entertainment Warner Bros. Pictures DreamWorks Pictures
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date(s)	December 9, 2006 (2006-12-09) (Japan) December 20, 2006 (US) March 29, 2007 (UK)
Running time	142 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English (American scenes) Japanese (Japanese scenes)
Budget	$19,000,000[1]
Gross revenue	$ 68,673,228 [2]
Preceded by	Flags of Our Fathers

Letters from Iwo Jima (硫黄島からの手紙, Iōjima Kara no Tegami^?) is a 2006 war film directed and co-produced by Clint Eastwood, and starring Ken Watanabe and Kazunari Ninomiya. The film portrays the Battle of Iwo Jima from the perspective of the Japanese soldiers and is a companion piece to Eastwood's Flags of Our Fathers, which depicts the same battle from the American viewpoint. The film is almost entirely in Japanese, but was produced by American companies Warner Bros., DreamWorks, Malpaso Productions, and Amblin Entertainment.

Letters from Iwo Jima was released in Japan on December 9, 2006 and received a limited release in the United States on December 20, 2006 in order to compete for the 79th Academy Awards. It was subsequently released in more areas of the United States on January 12, 2007, and was released in most states on January 19. An English-dubbed version of the film was premiered on April 7, 2008.

Source

The film is based on the non-fiction books "Gyokusai sōshikikan" no etegami ("Picture letters from the Commander in Chief")^[3] by General Tadamichi Kuribayashi (portrayed on screen by Ken Watanabe) and So Sad To Fall In Battle: An Account of War^[4] by Kumiko Kakehashi about the Battle of Iwo Jima. While some characters such as Saigo are fictional, the overall battle as well as several of the commanders are based upon actual people and events.

Plot

In 2005, Japanese archaeologists explore tunnels on Iwo Jima. They find something in the dirt, and the scene changes to Iwo Jima in 1944. Private First Class Saigo, a baker conscripted into the Imperial Japanese Army, and his platoon are grudgingly digging beach trenches on the island. Meanwhile, Lieutenant General Tadamichi Kuribayashi arrives to take command of the garrison and immediately begins an inspection of the island defenses. He saves Saigo and his friend Kashiwara from a beating by Captain Tanida for 'unpatriotic speeches', and orders the men to begin tunnelling defenses into Mount Suribachi.

Later, Lieutenant Colonel Baron Takeichi Nishi, a famous Olympic gold medalist show jumper, joins Kuribayashi for dinner. They discuss the lack of naval or air support and the fanaticism of their fellow officers. Kuribayashi evacuates the civilians of Iwo Jima. He clashes with some of his seniors, who do not agree with his strategy; Kuribayashi believes the US will take the beaches quickly, and only the mountain defenses will have a better chance for holding out.

Poor nutrition and unsanitary conditions take their toll; many die of dysentery, including Kashiwara. The troops begin using the caves. Kashiwara's replacement, Superior Private Shimizu, arrives for duty. Saigo suspects that Shimizu is a spy from Kempeitai to report on disloyal soldiers.

The first American bombings occur, causing significant casualties. The raid forces the Japanese to dig deeper. A few days later, U.S. Marines land. The American troops suffer heavy casualties, but the beach defenses are quickly overcome, and the attack turns to the positions on Mount Suribachi. Saigo carries ammunition to machine gunners. When a gunner is killed by a shell, Saigo is sent to retrieve some machine guns. While delivering the request from his commander to the Suribachi garrison, Saigo overhears Kuribayashi radioing orders to retreat. The commander, however, ignores the general and instead orders Saigo to tell his company to commit suicide. The soldiers of Saigo's unit commit suicide with grenades, and Tanida shoots himself with his Pistol, but Saigo runs away with Shimizu, convincing him to continue the fight rather than die. They find two other soldiers, but one gets incinerated by an American flamethrower, causing them to flee. They then find Japanese soldiers beating a captured Marine. The Marine pleads for mercy, but they bayonet him to death, to Saigo's disgust.

Saigo and the soldiers in Mount Suribachi try to flee with Lieutenant Oiso at night. But they run into Marines, who wipe out all except Saigo and Shimizu. They flee to friendly lines, but they are accused by Lieutenant Ito of desertion. Ito raises his katana to execute them for cowardice but Kuribayashi saves Saigo again.

The soldiers from the caves attempt a futile attack against US positions, but take heavy losses. The survivors are told to regroup with Colonel Nishi. Ito heads to the US lines with three mines, intending to throw himself under a tank. The next morning, heavy fighting takes place. Okubo, Nishi's executive officer, shoots a Marine, who is subsequently captured. He reveals his name to be Sam, and Nishi orders his medic to give him aid despite lack of supplies. Despite this, he dies of his wounds. Nishi reads a letter the American received from his mother.

As a bomb hits the cave, Nishi is blinded. His men bind his wounds, and Nishi orders them to another position. He asks Lieutenant Okubo to leave him a rifle. Upon leaving, the soldiers hear a gunshot from Nishi's cave.

Saigo plans surrender and does not care if Shimizu reports him. Shimizu reveals that he was dishonorably discharged from the Kempeitai. In a flashback, it is revealed he refused to obey an order to kill a dog and was sent to Iwo Jima. Saigo's attitude towards Shimizu softens. Shimizu asks Saigo to surrender with him. Shimizu and another soldier attempt to flee. Okubo orders them to halt and shoots the other soldier while Shimizu escapes.

Shimizu surrenders to a patrol and finds himself with another POW. The patrol moves on, leaving them with two Marines. One of the guards cold-bloodedly shoots them, much to the other Marine's surprise. The dead soldiers are found by Okubo who uses it as a lesson against surrender. Saigo, deeply saddened, puts Shimizu's senninbari on his dead body.

Meanwhile, Ito, desperate and malnourished, breaks down and when found, surrenders.

Saigo and the survivors find the cave is under attack, and a fierce battle rages. They lose several men, including Okubo who neutralizes an American Browning M1919 machine gun. They enter the cave under a storm of bullets, meeting up with Kuribayashi, who recognizes Saigo. One last attack is planned. Kuribayashi orders Saigo to destroy all the documents, including his own letters. By this, Kuribayashi saves Saigo's life a third time. Kuribayashi launches their final attack. Most of his men are killed, and Kuribayashi is critically wounded.

Kuribayashi's loyal aide Fujita drags him away. The next morning, Kuribayashi orders his aide to behead him; however, the aide is shot dead by an American marksman as he raises his sword. Saigo appears, having buried some of the documents instead of burning them all. The very weak Kuribayashi asks Saigo to bury him. He then draws his pistol, an American M1911 — a gift Kuribayashi was given in the US before the war, and commits suicide. After Kuribayashi commits suicide, Saigo buries him.

Later, a US patrol find Fujita's body. One Marine finds Kuribayashi's pistol and puts in under his belt. They search the area and find Saigo with his shovel. Seeing the pistol on the Marine lieutenant's belt as the C.O. attempts to reason with him to put his shovel down, Saigo is furious and attacks the Americans with his shovel but is knocked unconscious in self-defense and is taken to the POW beach. Awakening, he glimpses the setting sun and smiles grimly.

The film ends with the archaeologists uncovering the letters that Saigo buried in 1945.

Cast

All Japanese cast except for Ken Watanabe were selected by an audition. Kazunari Ninomiya is a member of the Japanese boy-band "ARASHI".

Production

The film was originally entitled Red Sun, Black Sand. The film was the first American film to show a war issue completely from the view of an American enemy.^[5] Although the film is set in Japan, it was filmed primarily in Barstow and Bakersfield in California. Filming in California wrapped on April 8, and the cast and crew then headed back to the studio in Los Angeles for more scenes before Eastwood, Watanabe and a skeleton crew made a quick one-day trip to Iwo Jima for some on-location shots.

The filmmakers had to be given special permission from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government to film on Iwo Jima, because more than 10,000 missing Japanese soldiers still rest under its soil. The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) operates a naval air base on Iwo Jima, which is used by the United States Navy for operations such as nighttime carrier landing practice. Civilian access to the island is restricted to those attending memorial services for fallen American Marines and Japanese soldiers.

The battleship USS Texas (BB-35), which was used in closeup shots of the fleet (for both movies) also participated in the actual attack on Iwo Jima.

The only character to appear in both Flags of Our Fathers and Letters From Iwo Jima is Charles W. Lindberg, played by Alessandro Mastrobuono.

Filming finished in late 2006.

Home media release

Letters from Iwo Jima was released on DVD by Warner Home Video on May 22, 2007. It was also released on HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc. Furthermore it was made available for instant viewing with Netflix's "Watch Instantly" feature where available.

The Two-Disc Special Collector's Edition DVD is also available in a Five-Disc Commemorative Set, which also includes the Two-Disc Special Collector's Edition of Flags of Our Fathers and a bonus fifth disc containing History Channel's "Heroes of Iwo Jima" documentary and To the Shores of Iwo Jima, a documentary produced by US Navy and Marine Corps.

The English dubbed version DVD was released on June 1, 2010 ^[6]. This version was first aired on cable channel AMC on April 26, 2008.^[7]

Critical reception

In the United States

The film received highly positive reviews, with the review tallying website Rotten Tomatoes reporting that 178 out of the 195 reviews they tallied were positive for a score of 91% and a certification of "fresh."^[8] Lisa Schwartzbaum of Entertainment Weekly, Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times, and Richard Schickel of Time were among many critics to name it the best picture of the year. In addition, Peter Travers of Rolling Stone and Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune both gave it four stars, and Todd McCarthy of Variety praised the film, assigning it a rare 'A' rating.

On December 6, 2006, the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures named Letters from Iwo Jima the best film of 2006.^[9][10] On December 10, 2006, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association named Letters from Iwo Jima Best Picture of 2006. Furthermore, Clint Eastwood was runner-up for directing honors.^[11] In addition, the American Film Institute named it one of the 10 best films of 2006. It was also named Best Film in a Foreign Language on January 15 during the Golden Globe Awards. It had been nominated for Best Film in a Foreign Language; and Clint Eastwood held a nomination for Best Director.

CNN's Tom Charity in his review described Letters from Iwo Jima as "the only American movie of the year I won't hesitate to call a masterpiece."^[12] On the "Best Films of the Year 2006" broadcast (December 31, 2006) of the television show Ebert & Roeper, Richard Roeper listed the film at #3 and guest critic A. O. Scott listed it at #1, claiming that the film was "close to perfect."

On January 23, 2007, the film received four Academy Award nominations. Eastwood was nominated for his directing, as well as Best Picture along with producers Steven Spielberg and Robert Lorenz. It was also nominated for Best Original Screenplay. The film took home one award, Best Sound Editing.

In Japan

The film has been far more commercially successful in Japan than in the U.S., ranking number 1 for five weeks. Though mostly appreciated for its empathetic view, the film has, however, received criticism from some Japanese moviegoers, including several staff members of the Association for the Advancement of Unbiased View of History (自由主義史観研究会^?), who question the historical accuracy of its depiction of the Japanese military police, or the use of gairaigo terms like raifuru (ライフル^?, "rifle") or jīpu (ジープ^?, "Jeep") by Japanese Army soldiers, at a time when such practice was generally frowned upon.^[13] Renowned nationalist and Prefectural Governor of Tokyo, Shintaro Ishihara, whose efforts and influence played a significant role in allowing the film's crew to shoot on Iwo Jima, criticized director Clint Eastwood's portrayal of American Marines. He stated that he believed Ore wa, Kimi no tame ni koso Shini ni iku (俺は、君のためにこそ死ににいく, I Go to Die for You^?), a film for which he wrote the screenplay and acted as executive director, was far superior to the Hollywood blockbuster.^[14]

Several non-U.S. reviews, such as that of the Independent of the United Kingdom, took offense at the characterization of good officers solely as those having had experience in the U.S. Those viewers believed that these characteristics make it an American film presenting a vision of the Japanese that reflects American cultural values and perceptions, in stark contrast to its framing in the American press as a film in the "Japanese point of view".^[15]

Yet, this film received a warm reception from both Japanese audiences and critics. Clint Eastwood presented Kuribayashi as "caring, erudite commander of Japan's Iwo Jima garrison, along with Japanese soldiers in general, in a sensitive, respectful way." ^[16]
In addition, previous Hollywood films tended to portray Japanese characters with non-Japanese actors: Chinese-Americans, Japanese-Americans, etc. Consequently, incorrect Japanese grammar and accents were conspicuous in those former films, jarring the realism of those films for the Japanese audience.^[17] However, due to the lack of stereotypes "Letters from Iwo Jima" was appreciated by Japanese critics and audiences.^[18]

Despite rave reviews, the film only grossed $13.7 million domestically in the United States. Stronger foreign sales grossing $54.9 million helped to boost revenue over production costs of $19 million.^[2]

Top ten lists

The film appeared on many critics' top ten lists of the best films of 2006.^[19]

Accolades

Won

• 79th Academy Awards:
  • Best Sound Editing (Alan Robert Murray and Bub Asman)
• Berlin Film Festival:
  • Cinema for Peace Award
• 12th BFCA Critics' Choice Awards:
  • Best Foreign Language Film
• 19th Chicago Film Critics Association Awards:
  • Best Foreign Language Film
• 13th Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Awards:
  • Best Foreign Language Film
• 64th Golden Globe Awards:
  • Best Foreign Language Film
• 32nd Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards:
  • Best Picture
• 78th National Board of Review Awards:
  • Best Picture
• 11th San Diego Film Critics Awards:
  • Best Director (Clint Eastwood)
  • Best Picture
• Japan Academy Prize:
  • Outstanding Foreign Language Film

Nominated

• 79th Academy Awards — Best Picture - Clint Eastwood, Steven Spielberg, & Robert Lorenz
• 79th Academy Awards — Best Director - Clint Eastwood
• 79th Academy Awards — Best Original Screenplay - Iris Yamashita & Paul Haggis
• 64th Golden Globe Awards — Best Director - Clint Eastwood
• 12th BFCA Critics' Choice Awards — Best Picture
• 12th BFCA Critics' Choice Awards — Best Director - Clint Eastwood
• 19th Chicago Film Critics Association Awards — Best Picture
• 19th Chicago Film Critics Association Awards — Best Director - Clint Eastwood
• 19th Chicago Film Critics Association Awards — Best Original Score
• 19th Chicago Film Critics Association Awards — Best Screenplay, Original - Iris Yamashita
• 2007 MPSE Golden Reel Awards — Best Sound Editing in a Feature Film: Dialogue and Automated Dialogue Replacement
• 2007 MPSE Golden Reel Awards — Best Sound Editing in Sound Effects and Foley for a Feature Film

See also

• Tora! Tora! Tora!
• None But the Brave
• Hell In The Pacific
• Senninbari

References

Bibliography

• Eliot, Marc (2009). American Rebel: The Life of Clint Eastwood. Harmony Books. ISBN 978-0-307-33688-0. 

External links

• Official website
• Letters from Iwo Jima at the Internet Movie Database
• Letters from Iwo Jima at Rotten Tomatoes
• Letters from Iwo Jima at Metacritic
• Letters from Iwo Jima at Allmovie
• Video interview with Letters from Iwo Jima special effects artist Vincent Guastini at Interviewing Hollywood
• Gerow, Aaron (2006). "From Flags of Our Fathers to Letters From Iwo Jima: Clint Eastwood’s Balancing of Japanese and American Perspectives". Japan Focus. http://www.japanfocus.org/-Aaron-Gerow/2290. Retrieved May 29, 2009. 
• Ikui, Eikoh (2007). "Letters from Iwo Jima: Japanese Perspectives". Japan Focus. http://www.japanfocus.org/-Ikui-Eikoh/2417. Retrieved May 29, 2009. 

Awards
Preceded by Paradise Now  Palestine	Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film 2006	Succeeded by The Diving Bell and the Butterfly  France