It is heartening to see such good work put into the film, because the central idea itself deserves a skilled realization. A smaller army awaits a giant behemoth as it digs in on an island it knows it cannot defend for long. The characters think back on their lives as they await what will almost certainly be death for all of them. Finally, when the overwhelming US forces arrive, Saigo and his fellows must confront their own rigid traditions: do they commit suicide in shame when they lose their posts to the unstoppable foe, or do they play it smart and fight on, retreating again and again to an ever shrinking zone that they still control?
Mr. Eastwood continues his straight and, I think, honest movie-making with the second part of his project on the Battle of Iwo Jima. The Japanese are portrayed in a sincere manner, both in recognition of their strict tradition which some might find horrible and in the realization that they were no more a unified group of clones than the Americans were. There are traditionally brutal and inhumane Japanese soldiers just as there are those who would eschew such appalling cruelty and waste of life. Though it may cause some polemics, I do not believe it sets out to do anything other than to remember and to entertain. I think it has done both things quite nicely.
The Upside: A good story and well told. Interesting characters and a fascinating situation.
The Downside: I still am not sold on the bleached quality of the images which leaves us with no stark colors. I much prefer a quality of image like that found in Eyes Wide Shut, or Fight Club.
On the Side: Letters from Iwo Jima is the third movie of Mr. Eastwood’s last four to get a Best Picture nomination. The other two were Mystic River and Million Dollar Baby.
Final Grade: A-
Matthew Alexander is a Senior Film Critic for Film School Rejects.
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