> *Spoiler*
>
>
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letters_from_Iwo_Jima
>
> "The film begins in the present on Iwo Jima. Japanese archaeologists,
> exploring tunnels dug prior to the American invasion, find a site and
> the scene changes to Iwo Jima in 1944.
>
> General Kuribayashi inspecting the island defenses in Iwo Jima.Private
> First Class Saigo, a baker conscripted into the Imperial Japanese
> Army, and his platoon are grudgingly digging beach trenches on the
> island. Meanwhile, Lieutenant General Tadamichi Kuribayashi arrives to
> take command of the garrison, accompanied by his ADC, Lieutenant
> Fujita. Met by the island's naval commander, Rear Admiral Ohsugi, and
> the deputy army commander, Major General Hayashi, he immediately
> begins an inspection of the island defenses. In particular, he orders
> the men to stop digging trenches on the beach and begin tunnelling
> defenses into Mount Suribachi. Kuribayashi encounters Captain Tanida
> beating Saigo and his friend, Kashiwara, for their disloyalty. Tanida
> is ordered to stop, with the reminder that a good commander uses his
> head more than his whip.
>
> On another evening, Lieutenant Colonel Baron Takeichi Nishi, a famous
> Olympic gold medalist show jumper, now commanding the 26th Tank
> Regiment, joins Kuribayashi for dinner. The two men are cavalry
> officers who do not follow the fanatical militarism of many of their
> comrades. Nishi tells Kuribayashi that the prospect of the Imperial
> Japanese Navy supporting Iwo Jima is non-existent; much of the
> Japanese Combined Fleet under Admiral Jisaburo Ozawa has been
> destroyed at the Battle of the Philippine Sea. Kuribayashi evacuates
> the civilian population of Iwo Jima to mainland Japan. He clashes with
> some of his senior officers, including Hayashi and Ohsugi, who do not
> agree with his strategy of defending the inland areas instead of the
> beaches. Kuribayashi believes the Americans will quickly take the
> beaches.
>
> Poor nutrition and unsanitary conditions take their toll on the
> garrison; many die of dysentery. Japanese troops begin using the caves
> as barracks. A young soldier, Superior Private Shimizu, arrives for
> duty on the island, replacing Kashiwara, who has died of dysentery.
> Saigo and his friends suspect that Shimizu is a spy sent from
> Kempeitai to report on "disloyal" soldiers.
>
> The first American aerial bombings occur shortly after, forcing the
> Japanese to dig deeper into the volcanic island. Kuribayashi sends an
> ailing Admiral Ohsugi back to Japan, asking for and getting Rear
> Admiral Toshinosuke Ichimaru in his place. Almost all the aircraft on
> the island are withdrawn on orders from headquarters. The battle for
> Iwo Jima begins.
>
> The Japanese beach defenses are quickly overcome and the attack turns
> to the defensive positions on Mount Suribachi. Tanida dispatches Saigo
> to carry a message to Mount Suribachi's commander, Colonel Adachi,
> requesting more machine guns. Saigo overhears General Kuribayashi,
> speaking over radio, ordering Colonel Adachi to tell his men to
> retreat northward, but Adachi instead gives Saigo a note ordering
> Captain Tanida and his men to commit suicide. Captain Tanida obeys
> this order, shooting himself in the head. One by one, most of the
> remaining soldiers, including Nozaki, kill themselves with their own
> hand grenades. Saigo, however, runs away and leaves the cave with
> Shimizu, convincing him that it is more productive to continue the
> fight rather than to die.
>
> The two men flee through the tunnels, eventually encountering more
> troops who are ambushed by American troops. They come across several
> soldiers beating and killing a captured American soldier. Eventually
> they make it to another cave system commanded by Lieutenant Ito, the
> former commander of the island's naval air forces. Ito is about to
> behead them with his sword for leaving Suribachi, when General
> Kuribayashi appears and saves Saigo for a second time. Kuribayashi
> says that he ordered the retreat.
>
> The soldiers from the caves attempt a futile attack against American
> positions. Nishi's men capture a wounded U.S. Marine, Sam, and Nishi
> orders his medic to give him aid despite the Japanese's dwindling
> medical supplies. Despite their efforts, the Marine dies. Nishi reads
> a letter the American received from his mother. They are reminded that
> the Americans are men like themselves, with families, hopes, and
> fears.
>
> As a bomb hits Nishi's cave, he looks, trying to shoot U.S. Marines,
> who return fire. Nishi is badly wounded and blinded. Comrades try to
> bind his wounds, but finally Nishi commits suicide with his rifle.
>
> Boy band singer and actor Kazunari Ninomiya as Private First Class
> Saigo.Shimizu divulges to Saigo that he had been dishonorably
> discharged from the Kempeitai after five days' service because he
> refused to obey a superior's order to kill a family's barking dog. He
> was then reassigned to Iwo Jima. This causes Saigo's attitude towards
> Shimizu to soften considerably. Shimizu breaks down and fearfully asks
> Saigo to surrender with him. He flees the cave with another soldier,
> but before Saigo can follow, Lieutenant Okubo appears and shoots the
> other soldier for desertion.
>
> Soon, Shimizu surrenders to a U.S. Marine patrol and finds himself in
> the company of another Japanese soldier who had surrendered. One of
> the American guards, who does not want to be burdened with POWs, later
> shoots them. The dead soldiers are discovered by the Japanese and
> Lieutenant Okubo points it out as a lesson for anyone else who wishes
> to surrender. Saigo puts Shimizu's senninbari on his dead body.
>
> Saigo and the remaining survivors eventually meet up with Kuribayashi,
> who recognizes Saigo. One last attack with all the remaining men is
> planned. Kuribayashi orders Saigo to stay behind and destroy all the
> documents, including his own letters to his family. Kuribayashi saves
> Saigo's life a third time. Kuribayashi and his remaining troops launch
> their final, fateful attack, and Kuribayashi is critically wounded.
>
> The loyal Fujita drags Kuribayashi away from the battle. The next
> morning, with defeat looming, Kuribayashi orders Fujita to behead him.
> However, as Fujita raises his sword the lieutenant is shot dead by a
> US Marine sniper. Kuribayashi asks Saigo, "Is this still Japanese
> soil?" Saigo assures him, "Yes, it is still Japan." Summoning his last
> reserves of strength, the very weak Kuribayashi then draws his
> sidearm, a Colt 1911 pistol that was a gift from American military
> friends during his earlier stay in the United States. The general
> shoots himself in the chest and dies. Saigo carries away the dead
> general and buries his body off-screen. (History records that
> Kuribayashi's body was never found.)
>
> Upon his return, Saigo finds that a patrol of American soldiers have
> claimed Kuribayashi's pistol and Fujita's sword as war trophies. Upon
> seeing the unique Colt 1911 tucked in a Marine's belt, he swings
> wildly at the Americans with his shovel. Eventually Saigo is knocked
> unconscious with a rifle butt and taken on a stretcher to a U.S. aid
> station on the beach. He sees the sinking sun and grins weakly.
>
> The scene shifts back to the Japanese archaeologists in the cave in
> 2005 who uncover the bag of letters written by Japanese soldiers on
> the island, never sent, that Saigo buried in 1945. As the letters fall
> from the bag, the voices of the fallen Japanese are heard reading from
> them."
The film received highly positive reviews, with the review tallying
website
rottentomatoes.com reporting that 154 out of the 169 reviews
they tallied were positive for a score of 91%% and a certification of
"fresh."[6] Lisa Schwartzbaum of Entertainment Weekly, Kenneth Turan
of the Los Angeles Times, and Richard Schnickel of Time were among
many critics to name it the best picture of the year. In addition,
Peter Travers of Rolling Stone and Michael Phillips of the Chicago
Tribune both gave it 4-stars, and Todd McCarthy of Variety praised the
film, assigning it a rare 'A' rating.
On December 6, 2006, the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures
named Letters from Iwo Jima the best film of 2006. [7][8] On December
10, 2006, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association named Letters from
Iwo Jima Best Picture of 2006. Furthermore, director Clint Eastwood
was runner-up for directing honors.[9] In addition, the American Film
Institute 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 Golden Globe
Awards. It had been nominated for Best Film in a Foreign Language; and
Clint Eastwood held a nomination for Best Director.
CNN.com'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."[10] In Ebert and Roeper's end of the years top 10 film
lists Roeper had the film #3 and guest critic The New York Times A.O.
Scott had it at #1, and said that the film was "close to perfect."[11]
On 23 January 2007, the film received four Academy Award nominations.
Eastwood was nominated for his directing, as well as Best Picture
along with producers Steven Spielberg and Robert Lorenz. The film also
received nominations for Original Screenplay and Sound Editing.
The film has been far more commercially successful in Japan than in
the U.S., ranking number 1 for five weeks. Though mostly appreciated
for its empathetic view, the film has, however, received criticism
from some Japanese moviegoers, including several staff members of the
Association for the Advancement of Unbiased View of History (
, Association for the Advancement of Unbiased View of History?), who
question the historical accuracy of its depiction of the Japanese
military police, or the use of the gairaigo terms like (rifle,
?) or (Jeep, ?) by Japanese Army soldiers, at a time when such
practice was generally frowned upon.[12] Renowned nationalist and
Prefectural Governor of Tokyo, Shintaro Ishihara-whose efforts and
influence played a significant role in allowing the film's crew to
shoot in Iwo Jima-criticized director Clint Eastwood's portrayal of
American marines in Letters from Iwo Jima at a party held on March 2,
2007 and openly stated he believed I Go to Die for You (
, I Go to Die for You?)-a film for which he wrote the screenplay and
acted as executive director-was far superior to the Hollywood
blockbuster.[13]
Furthermore, others have been offended by the characterization of good
officers solely as those having had experience in the U.S. Some
viewers believe that these characteristics make it an American film
presenting a vision of the Japanese that reflects American cultural
values and perceptions, in stark contrast to its framing in the
American press as a film in the "Japanese point of view". Several non-
U.S. reviews, such as that of the Independent of the United Kingdom,
have taken a similar view.[14]
The film is also criticized for only focusing on the life and death of
soldiers of Japan and the United States, while neglecting the damage
done on civilian population and conscripted workers from Korea and
Taiwan. In the making film included in the DVD package, director
Eastwood says that he used a single set for depicting both a street in
Tokyo and the town of Iwo Jima, and the film describes the native
people of Iwo Jima as ordinary Japanese. However, most of Iwo Jima's
residents were Micronesian descendants who have little cultural or
racial connection with the mainland Japanese people and they used
their own language. Thus, the expulsion of some 1,000 islanders meant
that they were forced into miserable living conditions in foreign
lands without proper compensation.
More importantly, the Japanese army coerced hundreds of conscripted
workers from Korea to dig the tunnels on the sulfur island. None of
them was reported to have survived the battle as they were believed to
have shot dead by either Japanese soldiers before the American
invasion or by American bombing and shooting during the battle, just
as had happened on Okinawa, Saipan and other islands involved in the
war. Since such losses of Korean victims were not mentioned in this
movie, distributors in South Korea worried that it would offend
Koreans. For this reason, the movie was never shown in Korean theaters
even though "Flags of Our Fathers" made decent earnings there.
