(source: Nielsen Book Data) Summary With Flags of Our Fathers (2006) and Letters from Iwo Jima (2006), Clint Eastwood made a unique contribution to film history, being the first director to make two films about the same event. The scene shifts back 61 years, to Iwo Jima in 1944. Back in November, I reviewed Flags of Our Fathers for The History Place. Includes several bonus documentaries. Letters form Iwo Jima doesn't deserve the critical praise it's receiving, because at heart it is a simple war film with the traditional stereotypes, but because its subject is the little-known and often misunderstood Japanese enemy, it's worthy of attention from the average American as well as military history students. BACK-STORY: “Letters from Iwo Jima” is Clint Eastwood’s companion piece to "Flags of Our Fathers". In works such as Letters From Iwo Jima, Flags of Our Fathers, The Thin Red Line, as well as the HBO series, The Pacific, (2010), for example, the war in the Pacific is represented in a way that is dramatically different from earlier accounts, most of which were shaped by the ruthlessness of immediate wartime experience and fueled by stereotype and prejudice. “The Army Air Force was doing its part to soften up Iwo Jima for the Marines. Banzai! The project was a movie about Iwo Jima, a speck of volcanic rock in the Pacific Ocean about 700 miles south of Tokyo and the site of one of the war's most brutal battles. Decades later, hundreds of letters are unearthed from that stark island's soil, giving faces and voices to the men who fought there and more. Decades later, hundreds of letters are unearthed from that stark island's soil. Letters from Iwo Jima (DVD) : Sixty-one years ago, the United States and Japanese armies met on Iwo Jima. The story of the battle of Iwo Jima between the United States and Imperial Japan during World War II, as told from the perspective of the Japanese who fought it. The letters give faces and voices to the men who fought there, as well as the extraordinary general who led them. Letters from Iwo Jima (DVD) : Sixty-one years ago, the United States and Japanese armies met on Iwo Jima. Letters from Iwo Jima (DVD) : Sixty-two years ago, U.S. and Japanese armies met on Iwo Jima. The Battle of Iwo Jima (February 19 – March 26, 1945) was an epic military campaign between U.S. Marines and the Imperial Army of Japan during World War II. Enter your location to see which movie theaters are playing Letters from Iwo Jima near you. Letters from Iwo Jima, however, sticks mostly and grimly to the action on the island itself, pictured in a grainy near-monochrome, supposedly summoned … Beginning December 8, B-29 Superforts and B-24 Liberators had been pummeling the island mercilessly. Fandango FANALERT® Sign up for a FANALERT® to find out when tickets are available in your area. "Simple as that" is repeated again as the last phrase in the book, explaining why the six boys who raised the flag on Iwo Jima were "not heroes." It is the Battle of Iwo Jima from the Japanese perspective. The letters give faces and voices to the men who fought there, as well as the extraordinary general who led them. Of course, there were few civilians on Iwo Jima for the Japanese Army to massacre, and because of the tactical situation it had very few opportunities to brutalize and kill American prisoners. Eastwood also directed and co-produced a 2006 film about the battle of Iwo Jima from the Japanese perspective, Letters from Iwo Jima , based on the books Picture Letters from the Commander in Chief by General Tadamichi Kuribayashi and So Sad to Fall in Battle: An Account of War by Kumio Kakehashi. Letters From Iwo Jima tells the story from the Japanese point of view. The movie was well reviewed and tried to show the events at Iwo Jima from the American side. In 2005, Japanese archaeologists exploring tunnels on Iwo Jima find something in the dirt. The letters give faces and voices to the men who fought there, as well as the extraordinary general who led them. Letters From Iwo Jima Full Movie 123movies Subtitles It's a simple establishing shot: a tilt up from the beach where the Allied forces landed to Mount Suribachi, a rocky knob on the southern tip of the island where the Japanese holed up in a network of tunnels and bunkers, and on top of which the famous, iconic image of the raising of an American flag was taken. Letters from Iwo Jima (DVD) : MPAA rating: R; for graphic war violence.Sixty-one years ago, the United States and Japanese armies met on Iwo Jima. 16. The two main characters in the movie are General Tadamichi Kuribayashi and Private Saigo. Decades later, hundreds of letters are unearthed from that stark island's soil. “Letters from Iwo Jima” is one of the best WWII movies produced so far. At the very end of the shoot, Eastwood, Watanabe, and a smaller group of crew members went to Iwo Jima for a single day to capture the on-location shots. It shows you what the Japanese did to prepare for the war and shows there perspective of it. Taylor and Zacharek contend that because Eastwood doesn’t depict the Japanese Army massacring civilians or killing very many American prisoners, Letters from Iwo Jima amounts to a whitewash. Plot Summary. Letters from Iwo Jima reveals the true story of the battle of Iwo Jima. The Lions of Iwo Jima (Book) : Haynes, Fred : "The Lions of Iwo Jima tells the full story of Combat Team 28, one of the greatest units fielded in the history of the U.S. Marines. Simple as that." Pauline Harnois is connected to the theme of the difference between perception and reality. Letters from Iwo Jima. Letters from Iwo Jima and Choosing the Enemy in Risk Society, by Mikkel Vedby Rasmussen Filmography Index. VERDICT: 8/10 Banzai Battalions. Letters from Iwo Jima (DVD) : In 1945, U.S. and Japanese armies met on Iwo Jima. The heroes of Iwo Jima are the guys who didn't come back.' Iwo Jima would be bombed for seventy-two consecutive days, setting the record as the most heavily bombed target and the longest sustained bombardment in the Pacific War. Decades later, hundreds of letters are unearthed from that stark island's soil. It tells the story of the battle of Iwo Jima between the United States and Imperial Japan during World War II, as told from the perspective of the Japanese who fought it. Letters from Iwo Jima (2006) Plot Summary (2) The story of the battle of Iwo Jima between the United States and Imperial Japan during World War II, as told from the perspective of the Japanese who fought it. At the heart of this story is the maverick general Tadamichi Kuriyabashi, devoted family man, brilliant leader and the first man on the island to know they were all going to die. By Jim Castagnera Special to The History Place 3/5/07. Decades later, hundreds of letters are unearthed from that stark island's soil. Letters from Iwo Jima was released in the United States in 2006. It is the sequel to Flags of our Fathers, but it came as a shock to me to view life on the other side in the country of Japan. In the states while wars are going on citizens hear and see what the press puts … The second of Clint Eastwood’s two Iwo Jima themed movies, Letters from Iwo Jima retells the battle of Iwo Jima from the Japanese perspective.