Letters from Iwo Jima (Review)

My very good friend, Ivy, and I wanted to kill time last Saturday by watching movies. Take note of the ’s’ in movies. We didn’t want just one; we wanted, if possible, to watch two or maybe even three. February was like a total slump in good movies. The only good movies then were Stranger than Fiction, A Night at the Museum and an indie film shown only at Robinson’s World, Pepot Artista (Pepot Superstar). All of which, I never had the chance to see.

Originally, we were choosing between the following movies:
Letters from Iwo Jima
Notes on a scandal
300
Pursuit of Happiness
Saan nagtatago si Happiness (indie movie shown at Robinson’s World)
The Good Shepard
Dream Girls

March is literary teeming with interesting movies that we had a tough time choosing which ones to watch. Finally we wanted 300 and Letters from Iwo Jima. We weren’t that griddy to watch blood-drenched flicks, really. We wanted to see these two films because critics said they were good. And as movie suckers, we gladly obliged.

The movie is Clint Eastwood’s complementary film to his previous piece, Flag of our Fathers, which basically features the same war but is seen in the Japanese Army’s viewpoint.

Some considered guarding the Iwo Jima island a suicide mission, but Lt. Gen. Kuribayashi (Watanabe) stood firm to his duty to his emperor and country. While other officers opposed his war strategies, Lt. Col Nishi (Ihara) and Fujita (Kuribayashi’s loyal aide) proved to be one of his loyal allies. Consequently, poor nutrition and bad water supply gave a slow death to the Japanese army while still preparing for the Americans to land on their beach. They became weak and ultimately lost their will to fight even before their enemy came. There were no reinforcements coming, their ammo supplies weren’t enough and most of the men are still in disbelief as to why they’re fighting. Saigo (Ninomiya) sturggled as he wanted to return home to his wife and his baby. Saigo, being fumbling, was always picked on by his superiors. But Kuribayashi saves him everytime he’s bound for some punishment. But as the American forces raged the island, being outnumbered and losing their grip on their purpose, the Japanese soldiers killed themselves, even without suicide orders from Kuribayashi. With their numbers dwindled, Kuribayashi orders a last attempt to attack the Americans with all the surviving men in his army. Unfortunately, the Japanese army was wiped out. But Fujita saves Kuribayashi and drags him all the way to the shore, hoping to meet their reinforcements. Kuribayashi orders Fujita to behead him, but Fujita was shot just as he was ready to swing his katana. Saigo, on the other hand, comes along and spots Kuribayashi lying with a gunshot wound. saigo was fortunately saved again (Kuribayashi saves Saigo’s life three times here) because Kuribayashi ordered him to bury and burn all the documents in their headquarters. Kuribayashi asks Saigo to bury him so the Americans will not find his body, and with that last request, he shoots himself and finally dies. After Saigo buried the body, the Americans found him with a shovel and tried to capture him. He fought madly but was finally knocked unconscious. When he woke up, he found himself in a stretcher and grinned weakly. Then forward to present time when some archeologists finally unearthen the letters from the soldiers that Saigo had buried.

The story was good, I have to admit. The idea was a sold out to me. The visuals weren’t that bloody much to my dismay. But being raw in most of its scenes were actually tastily done. Ninomiya was a comic relief who served his purpose well. But Watanabe’s acting prowess was, in my humble opinion, under used. Plus, I wasn’t moved in any of the scenes; touched, yes, but never moved to tears. I think the problem for me was that the movie was bare. It didn’t have those gripping scenes which I so much expected, being a war flick and all.

Even if the movie bagged so many awards this year, the movie was just not for me. I mean, I love period movies, but this one just didn’t suit me. The movie was good, but not great.