View from the other side

by RICHARD JONES

CLINT EASTWOOD'S 'Letters from Iwo Jima' is the second film in his two-part story of the 1945 battle for the tiny Pacific Ocean island of Iwo Jima.

Shot back-to-back with the American take on the story 'Flags of Our Fathers', this second movie provides us with the Japanese perspective on the epic battle. .

It's been largely constructed from the letters, cards and sketches left behind by General Tadamishi Kuribayashi and three other Japanese soldiers. .

Played by the redoubtable Ken Watanabe, General Kuribayashi and his men know only too well they're fighting in a battle they're unlikely to win. .

We can only imagine the feelings of the poorly equipped Japanese as they looked out from barren Iwo Jima and saw the massive American deployment on the beaches below them. .

However, Kuribayashi and his officers had ensured the Japanese would have one advantage. They had excavated a massive tunnel system on the island and it's these tunnels which hid the papers of not only the general but also three others. .

The letters of nobleman Lieutenant-Colonel Takeichi Nishi (Tsuyoshi Ihara) and foot soldiers Saigo (Kazunari Ninomiya), who was a baker in civilian life, and Shimizu (Ryo Kase) were also preserved in the tunnels. .

Eastwood uses some flashbacks, such as Saigo recalling his wife's tears the day he was called up, to illustrate the Japanese soldiers' reaction to war - their disillusionment, their homesickness and their overpowering feelings of hopelessness. .

The director doesn't leave the island as much as he did with 'Flags of Our Fathers'. Most of this film concentrates on the battle itself with only a few, brief flashbacks. .

A trained strategist and a progressive, General Kuribayashi grows increasingly frustrated with the attitudes of his senior officers. Many of these men seem keen to commit suicide via hand grenade at the earliest opportunity. .

Kuribayashi sees this philosopy as jeopardising their already very slender chance of victory. .

As with 'Flags', Eastwood uses precious little colour. Only the occasional sunburst of the Japanese flag and the explosion of bombs add shades of red to the overall brown and grey.

20 April 2007

australianrules.com.au

Clint Eastwood and Ken Watanabe on the set of 'Letters from Iwo Jima'.

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