Letters from Iwo Jima (???????? I?jima Kara no Tegami) is a 2006 Japanese-American war film directed and co-produced by Clint Eastwood, 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 two films were shot back to back. Letters from Iwo Jima is almost entirely in Japanese, although it was produced by American companies DreamWorks, Malpaso Productions, and Amblin Entertainment. After Flags of Our Fathers underperformed at the box office, DreamWorks swapped the United States distribution rights to Warner Bros., who had the international rights.
Letters from Iwo Jima | |
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Theatrical release poster | |
Directed by | Clint Eastwood |
Produced by |
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Screenplay by | Iris Yamashita |
Story by |
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Based on | Picture Letters from Commander in Chief by Tadamichi Kuribayashi (Author) Tsuyuko Yoshida (Editor) |
Starring |
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Music by |
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Cinematography | Tom Stern |
Edited by |
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Production companies |
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Distributed by |
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Release date |
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Running time | 140 minutes |
Country |
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Language | Japanese English |
Budget | $19 million |
Box office | $68.7 million |
The film was released in Japan on December 9, 2006 and received a limited release in the United States on December 20, 2006 in order to be eligible for consideration for the 79th Academy Awards. It was subsequently released in more areas of the U.S. on January 12, 2007, and was released in most states on January 19. An English-dubbed version of the film premiered on April 7, 2008. Upon release, the film received critical acclaim and did slightly better at the box office than its companion.
Screenplay
In 2005, Japanese archaeologists explore tunnels on Iwo Jima, where they find something in the dirt.
The scene changes to Iwo Jima in 1944. Private First Class Saigo and his platoon are 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 tunneling underground defenses into Mount Suribachi. Kuribayashi and Lieutenant Colonel Baron Takeichi Nishi, a famous Olympic gold medalist show jumper, clash with some of the other officers, who do not agree with Kuribayashi's defense in depth strategy: Kuribayashi believes the US will take the beaches quickly, and that 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 the Kempeitai sent to report on disloyal soldiers.
Soon, American aircraft and warships begin to appear and bombard the island, causing significant casualties. A few days later, the U.S. Marines land. The American troops suffer heavy casualties, but the beach defenses are quickly overcome, as Kuribayashi predicted, and the attack turns to the positions on Mount Suribachi. While delivering a request for more machine guns from his commander to the Suribachi garrison, Saigo overhears Kuribayashi radioing orders to retreat. The commander, however, ignores the General and instead orders his company to commit suicide. Saigo runs away with Shimizu, convincing him to continue the fight rather than die. They find two other soldiers, but one is incinerated by an American flamethrower, and they witness a captured Marine being bayoneted to death.
Saigo and the soldiers in Mount Suribachi try to flee with Lt. Colonel Oiso at night, but they run into Marines, who wipe out all except Saigo and Shimizu. They flee to friendly lines, but are accused by Lieutenant Ito of desertion. Ito raises his katana to execute them for cowardice, but Kuribayashi arrives and saves Saigo again by confirming his order to retreat.
The Japanese attack US positions but take heavy losses. The survivors are told to regroup with Colonel Nishi while Ito heads to the US lines with three mines, intending to throw himself under a tank. Nishi converses in English with a captured Marine, Sam, until Sam eventually dies from his wounds. Later, blinded by shrapnel, Nishi orders his men to withdraw and asks Lieutenant Okubo to leave him a rifle. Upon leaving, the soldiers hear a gunshot from Nishi's cave.
Saigo plans surrender, and Shimizu reveals that he was dishonorably discharged from the Kempeitai because he disobeyed an order to kill a civilian's dog. Shimizu escapes and surrenders to Americans, but is later shot dead by his guard. Meanwhile, Ito, desperate and malnourished, breaks down and, when found by the US Marines, surrenders. Okubo is killed as he and his men arrive at Kuribayashi's position. Saigo meets up with Kuribayashi, and one last attack is planned. Kuribayashi orders Saigo to destroy all documents, including his own letters, saving Saigo's life a third time.
That night, Kuribayashi launches a final surprise attack. Most of his men are killed, and Kuribayashi is critically wounded, but Kuribayashi's loyal aide Fujita drags him away. The next morning, Kuribayashi orders Fujita to behead him; however, Fujita is shot dead by a Marine sniper before he can do so. Saigo appears, having buried some of the documents and letters instead of burning them all. Kuribayashi asks Saigo to bury him where he will not be found, then draws his pistol, an American M1911 — a gift Kuribayashi was given in the US before the war — and commits suicide. A tearful Saigo then buries him.
Later, a US patrol find Fujita's body. One Marine officer finds Kuribayashi's pistol and tucks it under his belt. They search the area and find Saigo with his shovel. Seeing the pistol in the Marine lieutenant's belt, Saigo becomes furious and attacks the Americans with his shovel. Too weak to fight, he is knocked unconscious and taken to the POW beach. Awakening on a stretcher, he glimpses the setting sun and smiles grimly.
Back in 2005, the archeologists complete their digging, revealing the bag of letters that Saigo had buried, and open it. As the letters spill out, the voices of the Japanese soldiers who wrote them resound.
Actor | Role |
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Ken Watanabe | General Tadamichi Kuribayashi |
Kazunari Ninomiya | Private First Class Saigo |
Tsuyoshi Ihara | Lieutenant Colonel Baron Takeichi Nishi |
Ry? Kase | Superior Private Shimizu |
Shid? Nakamura | Lieutenant Ito |
Hiroshi Watanabe | Lieutenant Fujita |
Takumi Bando | Captain Tanida |
Yuki Matsuzaki | Private First Class Nozaki |
Takashi Yamaguchi | Private First Class Kashiwara |
Eijiro Ozaki | Lieutenant Okubo |
Alan Sato | Sergeant Ondo |
Nae Yuuki | Hanako, Saigo's wife (in a flashback) |
Nobumasa Sakagami | Admiral Ohsugi |
Masashi Nagadoi | Admiral Ichimaru |
Akiko Shima | lead woman (in a flashback) |
Luke Eberl | Sam, wounded American Marine (credited as Lucas Elliot) |
Jeremy Glazer | American Marine Lieutenant |
Ikuma Ando | Ozawa |
Mark Moses | American officer (in a flashback) |
Roxanne Hart | Officer's wife |
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The film was originally entitled Red Sun, Black Sand. Although the film is set in Japan, it was filmed primarily in Barstow and Bakersfield in California. All Japanese cast except for Ken Watanabe were selected through auditions. 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. Principal photography finished in late 2006.
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 for five days. The only character to appear in both Flags of Our Fathers and Letters From Iwo Jima is Charles W. Lindberg, played by Alessandro Mastrobuono.
Sources
The film is based on the non-fiction books "Gyokusai s?shikikan" no etegami ("Picture letters from the Commander in Chief") by General Tadamichi Kuribayashi (portrayed on screen by Ken Watanabe) and So Sad To Fall In Battle: An Account of War 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.
Critical response
In the United States
The film was critically acclaimed, and well noted for its portrayal of good and evil on both sides of the battle. The critics heavily praised the writing, direction, cinematography and acting. The review tallying website Rotten Tomatoes reported that 180 out of the 198 reviews they tallied were positive for a score of 91% and a certification of "fresh." Lisa Schwarzbaum 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. 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. 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, while 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." 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,
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