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BY A CORRESPONDENT
Letters From Iwo Jima has won the 2007 Oscar
nomination for the Best Picture released in 2006.
Directed by ace director Clint Eastwood, Letters From
Iwo Jima is a movie complimentary to the other Eastwood
film Flags of Our Fathers. While Flags of Our Fathers
narrates the invasion of the Japanese island of Iwo Jima
World War during World War -II from the American prism,
Letters From Iwo Jima decribes the same from the
Japanese point of view - a group of self-driven soldiers
fighting impossible odds to save their country from a
direct attack by the US. Apart from being nominated for
Best director (Clint Eastwood), Letters From Iwo Jima
has also been nominated for best Sound editing, by Alan
Robert Murray. It has also received the Oscar nomination
for Best original screenplay written by Iris Yamashita.
 From
many accounts, Letters From Iwo Jima turned out to be
far better than big brother Flags of Our Fathers.
Letters From Iwo Jima is on par wth Unforgiven, and has
been rated as Clint Eastwood's best movie ever.
Letters From Iwo Jima is a side-story to the greater
story of World War-II. Imperial Japan is on the verge of
defeat, but is no mood to give up. War is nearing its
end. The island of Iwo Jima stands between the US and
mainland Japan. This is the last post Japan must defend,
to prevent a direct attack on Japanese soil by the
Allied forces. Japan sends her soldiers to Iwo Jimo,
knowing well that they may not return. Letters From
Iwo Jima follows the Japanese commander who must
organize the defense of the isolated and unsupported
forces, his friend Colonel Takeichi Nishi who was former
comrade in the cavalry and 1932 Olympic Show Jumping
gold-medalist, and of the ordinary soldiers.
The leader of Letters From Iwo Jima is General Tadamichi
Kuribayashi, played by ace Japanese actor Ken Watanabe.
Though he knows in his heart that it is a losing battle,
his unconventional military strategies and charisma
ensure that the battle for Iwo Jima, which was expected
to be over in a jiffy, lasted for 41 days. Tadamichi
Kuribayashi and his team held back the American forces
for that many days from reaching mainland Japan, laying
down their lives in the volcanic island sand of Iwo Jima.
In all, 7000 American soldiers and over 20,000 Japanese
army men lost their lives in the battle for Iwo Jima.
The ferocity of the battle can be gauged by the fact
that more than one-fourth of all medals awarded to
American marines in World War-II went to those who
fought the Battle for Iwo Jima. Iwo Jima turned out to
be the penultimate theatre of war in the Second World
War.
For Americans and the Japanese, coming to terms with the
Battle oof Iwo Jima has never been an easy task, just
the same way as Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Clint Eastwood
makes a bold move to say both sides of the story with
his dual story of Flags of Our Fathers and Letters From
Iwo Jima. While a sense of expensive victory and
martyrdom pervades the end of Flags of Our Fathers,
Letters From Iwo Jima has no victory and no honour. The
heroes of Flags Of Our Fathers return to a thumping
welcome, while the heroes of Iwo Jima don't come home.
A cloud of stark defeat and gloom hangs heavily over the
movie. At one point or the other, all the Japanese
fighting the battle for Iwo Jima realise that this is
the end of the road for them. The story is captured from
the hundreds of letters unearthed later written by the
soldiers to their near and dear ones, among them a baker
who became a soldier during wartime whose sole desire is
to see his newborn daughter in farway mainland. Kazunari
Ninomiya, playing as Saigo the baker-farmer is full of
hope even in the middle of overarching defeat - he wants
to see his daughter once the battle for Iwo Jima is won.
General Tadamichi Kuribayashi, leading the defence of
Iwo Jima, who has travelled the US knows that the battle
for Iwo Jima is a lost cause. Ken Watanabe, one of the
finest Japanese actors, has done perfect justice to his
job. It is sad that he did get an Oscar nomination in
2007. Letters From Iwo Jima may bring another Oscar for
Clint Eastwood - he has been nominated for the Best
Director slot.
The resounding gunshots in gloomy Iwo Jima, across its
sulphur sands and depressing landscape reverberate in
one's mind long after the movie is over. The American
marines who returned from Iwo Jima were hailed as the
liberators, while Iwo Jima tells the untold story of the
Japanese courage against heavy odds. Clint Eastwood has
successfully told the other side of the heroic story of
Flags of Our Fathers. Flags Of Our Fathers has also been
nominated for Oscar awards in Best sound edting and
sound mixing. Cast of Letters From Iwo Jima
Ken Watanabe General Tadamichi Kuribayashi
Kazunari Ninomiya Saigo
Tsuyoshi Ihara Baron Nishi
Ryo Kase Shimizu
Shido Nakamura Lieutenant Ito
Hiroshi Watanabe Lieutenant Fujita
Takumi Bando Captain Tanida
Yuki Matsuzaki Nozaki
Takashi Yamaguchi Kashiwara
Eijiro Ozaki Lieutenant Okubo
Nae Yuuki Hanako (as Nae)
Nobumasa Sakagami Admiral Ohsugi
Akiko Shima Lead Woman
Lucas Elliott Sam Awards won by Letters From Iwo Jima
Best Foreign Language Film at Golden Globe
Best Foreign Language Film at Broadcast Film Critics
Association Awards
Best Foreign Language Film at Dallas-Fort Worth Film
Critics Association Awards
Best Foreign Language Film at Chicago Film Critics
Association Awards
Best Picture at National Board of Review of Motion
Pictures
Best Picture at Los Angeles Film Critics Association
Awards Letters From Iwo Jima was nominee at
Golden Globe — Best Director - Clint Eastwood
Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards — Best Picture
Chicago Film Critics Association Awards — Best
Screenplay, Original - Iris Yamashita
Chicago Film Critics Association Awards — Best Picture
Chicago Film Critics Association Awards — Best Director
- Clint Eastwood
Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards — Best
Director - Clint Eastwood
Chicago Film Critics Association Awards — Best Original
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