Letter from Iwo Jima!
Dean & Steffi from Meath, 30 Oct 2007
Excellent film. The portrayal of the Japanese culture of the day, through flashback storyline and the unfolding cirumstances of the battle, was very insiteful and showed a good insite into how life was for them. It does appear a tad like American Propoganda at times, but the honesty in showing US Soldiers brutality alongside many of the Japanese Soldiers' brutal attitude evened things up. The Japanese cast were excellent. Really well acted. CGI was ropey at times, but still a great war flick tho
WWII from the Japs point of view.
Ciaran from Dublin, 23 Jul 2007
An interesting accompanying piece to 'Flags of our Fathers', this is a more focussed movie in that it sticks to the characters and action on the island of Iwo Jima instead of flashing away to future events. We see the Japanese preparations for the invertible US invasion and we get to know some of the soldiers as people. Then the action starts and it is intense. The same washed out palette is used as in 'Flags' and the scene is one of destruction and desolation for those involved. V. good.
An excellent Japanese WW2 perspective
Peter from Mayo, 27 Jul 2007
A companion piece to Flags of our Fathers, an American account of the decisive battle of Iwo Jima in WW2. This anti war movie portrays the lives of the Japanese soldiers tasked to defend the island to the death, through the series of letters they write to loved ones at home, the last batch of which are never sent. The letters portray husbands, sons and fathers with loves fears and lives no different to the Americans that they seek to kill to maintain control of the island.
Excellent in it's own right!
Barry from Dublin, 27 Jul 2007
Excellent as an accompaniment to Flags, and also in it's own right. You don't have to see Flags first, though I would recommend that you do as there are a number shared scenes where the Japanese perspective sheds new light on what happens some of the characters from the first film. On the other hand, were you to watch this first, Flags may shed some light on what happened to Japanese characters. Either way, watch them both. Avoid only if you don't like war movies.
A Japanese perspective from Eastwood
Brian from Mayo, 29 Nov 2007
A companion piece to "Flags Of Our Fathers", this is the better film of the two. It uses narration, flashbacks etc much better than Flags, and the viewer remains much more immersed in the action throughout. This tells the Battle of Iwo Jima from the Japanese perspective, entirely in Japanese. The authenticity and depth to the film is excellent, and the fact that the outcome is inevitable adds greatly to the poignancy.