Letters from Iwo Jima

Director: Clint Eastwood

Starring: Ken Watanabe, Shido Nakamura

Following up Flags of our Fathers as a companion piece, Clint Eastwood again takes us through the battle for the island of Iwo Jima during WWII, the control of which would allow America to launch an attack on Japan. This time, however, we view the war through the eyes of the Japanese soldiers. Entirely outnumbered, the relative newcomer Lt. Gen. Tadamichi Kuribayashi, played spectacularly by Ken Watanabe (The Last Samurai), orders his men to excavate miles of tunnels connecting the island's caves instead of using the machine-gun bunkers on the beaches to stop the enemy. What follows is a hugely moving story of friendship, and bravery against some often quite horrifying odds as the Japanese refuse to surrender to their enemies.

Photographed in subtle grey tones, the whole film beautifully evokes a feeling of claustrophobia and abject misery that the soldiers endure. What makes it such a clever piece is the obvious but effective attempt that has been made to create an experience that fits like a jigsaw with Flags of Our Fathers. Battle scenes from the previous film are used again, simply shot from the opposite perspective, really rounding out the experience of war for the audience. Note: Do not panic if you have not seen Flags. Letters stands perfectly well on its own, and is an entirely different experience. Plus you won’t be missing out on any previous plotlines because it’s the same one! Hurrah!

Eastwood pulls very few punches when it comes to gore, but balances it perfectly with some beautifully drawn characters, each one as engaging as the next. Ken Watanabe stands out as Lt. Gen. Kuribayashi, the Japanese leader, whose duties to his nation are undercut somewhat by a strange kind of affection he feels for the US, having gained a deeper understanding of the country on his travels.

This is a decidedly individual take on the war film, particularly poignant given the current political climate, and it takes a lot of guts for any director, particularly one whose image is so closely associated with traditional Westerns, to make a film which even dares to suggest that in any conflict, the Americans just might be the bad guys.

Steph Janes