Movie Iwo Jima
Mara, Forrest Tucker. A dramatization of the World War II Battle of Iwo Jima. As a retired Marine, I can say this movie does the Corps justice! After making it.
Clint Eastwood, and after a screening at the Letters from Iwo Jima ( 硫黄島からの手紙, Iōjima Kara no Tegami) is a 2006 Japanese-American directed and co-produced by, starring. The film portrays the from the perspective of the and is a companion piece to Eastwood's, 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, although it was produced by American companies,. After Flags of Our Fathers underperformed at the box office, swapped the United States distribution rights to Warner Bros., who had the international rights. The film was released in on December 9, 2006 and received a limited release in the on December 20, 2006 in order to be eligible for consideration for the. 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. Contents.
Plot In 2005, Japanese explore tunnels on, where they find something in the dirt. The scene changes to in 1944. Saigo and his are digging beach trenches on the island.
Meanwhile, 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. Kuribayashi and, a famous, clash with some of the other officers, who do not agree with Kuribayashi's 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, including Kashiwara. The troops begin using the caves.
Kashiwara's replacement, Shimizu, arrives for duty. Saigo suspects that Shimizu is a spy from the 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 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. 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. Ito raises his 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. 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 — 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 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. Cast Actor Role General Private First Class Saigo Lieutenant Colonel Baron Superior Private Shimizu Lieutenant Ito Hiroshi Watanabe Lieutenant Fujita Takumi Bando Captain Tanida Private First Class Nozaki Takashi Yamaguchi Private First Class Kashiwara Lieutenant Okubo Alan Sato Sergeant Ondo Nae Yuuki Hanako, Saigo's wife (in a flashback) Nobumasa Sakagami Admiral Ohsugi Masashi Nagadoi Akiko Shima lead woman (in a flashback) Sam, wounded American Marine (credited as Lucas Elliot) American Marine Lieutenant Ikuma Ando Ozawa American officer (in a flashback) Officer's wife Production. This section needs additional citations for. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. ( September 2015) The film was originally entitled Red Sun, Black Sand.
Although the film is set in Japan, it was filmed primarily in and in. All Japanese cast except for were selected through auditions. Filming in California wrapped on April 8, and the cast and crew then headed back to the studio in for more scenes before Eastwood, Watanabe and a skeleton crew made a quick one-day trip to Iwo Jima for some on-location shots. finished in late 2006.
The filmmakers had to be given special permission from the to film on Iwo Jimabecause more than 10,000 missing Japanese soldiers still rest under its soil. The (JMSDF) operates a naval air base on, which is used by the for operations such as nighttime carrier landing practice.
Iwo Jima Flag Raising
Civilian access to the island is restricted to those attending memorial services for fallen American Marines and Japanese soldiers. The battleship, 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, played by Alessandro Mastrobuono. Sources The film is based on the non-fiction books 'Gyokusai sōshikikan' no etegami ('Picture letters from the Commander in Chief') by General (portrayed on screen by ) 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. Reception 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 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, of the, and Richard Schickel of were among many critics to name it the best picture of the year. In addition, of and of the both gave it four stars, and Todd McCarthy of praised the film, assigning it a rare 'A' rating. On December 6, 2006, the named Letters from Iwo Jima the best film of 2006.
Full Movie Iwo Jima
On December 10, 2006, the named Letters from Iwo Jima Best Picture of 2006. Furthermore, Clint Eastwood was runner-up for directing honors. In addition, the 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, while Clint Eastwood held a nomination for Best Director. '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, listed the film at #3 and guest critic listed it at #1, claiming that the film was 'close to perfect.' Awarded the film a perfect score (4 out of 4 stars) and raved about it as well. Awarded a 3 out of 4 star review, concluding with that although both 'Letters' and 'Flags' were imperfect but interesting, 'Letters from Iwo Jima' was more focused, strong and straightforward than its companion piece.
On January 23, 2007, the film received four nominations. Eastwood was nominated for his directing, as well as Best Picture along with producers. It was also nominated for Best Original Screenplay. The film took home one award, Best Sound Editing.
The film also appeared on many critics' top ten lists of the best films of 2006. In Japan The film was far more commercially successful in Japan than in the U.S., ranking number 1 for five weeks, and receiving a warm reception from both Japanese audiences and critics. The Japanese critics noted that Clint Eastwood presented Kuribayashi as a 'caring, erudite commander of Japan's Iwo Jima garrison, along with Japanese soldiers in general, in a sensitive, respectful way.' Also, the Japanese newspaper noted that the movie is clearly 'distinguishable' from previous Hollywood movies, which tended to portray Japanese characters with non-Japanese actors (e.g., Chinese-Americans, and other Asian-Americans). Consequently, incorrect and non-native accents were conspicuous in those former films, jarring their realism for the Japanese audience. In contrast, most Japanese roles in Letters from Iwo Jima are played by native Japanese actors. Also, the article praised the film's new approach, as it is scripted with excellent research into Japanese society at that time.
According to the article, previous Hollywood movies describing Japan were based on the stereotypical images of Japanese society, which looked 'weird' to native Japanese audiences. Letters from Iwo Jima is remarkable as the movie that tries to escape from the stereotypes. Owing to the lack of stereotypes, Letters from Iwo Jima was appreciated by Japanese critics and audiences. Since the film was successful in Japan, a tourist boom has been reported on the, of which is part. Nicholas Barber's review in the UK's, argued that the movie was 'a traditional film wearing the uniform of a revisionist one' which proved Hollywood could be 'as mawkish about other country's soldiers as it can about its own', and that the Japanese characters were 'capable of being decent, caring fellows, just so long as they've spent some time in the United States'. Despite favorable reviews, the film only grossed $13.7 million domestically in the United States. Foreign sales of $54.9 million helped to boost revenue over production costs of $19 million.
Awards and honors Academy Awards record 1. Best Sound Editing Golden Globe Awards record 1.