Letters From Iwo Jima

[Beebs]

but it chose to go through cliches and focuses on war being hell....God...those were some dull battles.

I wouldn't never call such a battle dull. Given what it was and what was lost. Perhaps I speak from being moved so much by the book. As for War being hell, its a damn good motif and I have no problem what so ever with it being used here. It seemed to me to focus more on the 6 men, and the 3 of them who survived. Sort of, politics + war is hell in a way. Like Dave said, to each his own, but I can never see Iwo Jima as a dull battle. NEVER.

[drinkanddestroy]

I just saw this movie, back to back with Flags of Our Fathers

I thought LFIJ was pretty dull - It took me about five installments to get through the entire thing. FOOF is not great, But it is decent and I was at least able to get through it in one sitting

It is unfuckingbelievable how LFIJ shows the U.S. Marine at the end shooting those two Japanese prisoners in cold blood. I am not na?ve, I know that since the beginning of time, there has never been a war in which some people from both sides - including the good side - didn?t commit war crimes. That is not the point. The point is that since one movie obviously cannot depict the entirety of the war, the scenes the movie chooses to show should be representative of the truth. In the one scene where a Japanese surrenders and then gets shot in cold blood by a Marine, that essentially implies that this was the norm. That the Americans were pretty much just as evil as the Japs.

Yeah, the movie does show the insanity of the imperial Japanese culture, how Jap soldiers were forced to give their lives rather than surrender. It seems to me that that scene at the end where the Marine murders the two Japs is a way to ?even the score? for the Japanese audience, to show that the Americans were evil also, that there was not much difference between the two.

During WWII, the Japs committed war crimes on a mass scale. The Americans did not. Yet in the movie, this one ?good Jap,? who realizes the insanity of committing suicide for the Emperor, wisely surrenders, and he is murdered in cold blood by the American, as if that was the norm rather than the exception. Maybe that scene made the Jap audience feel happy, but fuck Clint for that. Also, in the ?making of? documentary, Clint is shown at times directing the movie wearing an Imperial Jap military hat. Very respectful to the thousands of Marines who gave their lives at Iwo Jima. Clint is a fucking traitor.

As for FOOF: in the past 5 years -  a decade after the movie was released - they are saying now that two of those three people on the flag-raising tour (the two whites) were not in the photo after all!  Apparently, those three, the Indian was the only one they actually got correct! Discussion here https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raising_the_Flag_on_Iwo_Jima

[dave jenkins]

Yeah, the movie does show the insanity of the imperial Japanese culture, how Jap soldiers were forced to give their lives rather than surrender. It seems to me that that scene at the end where the Marine murders the two Japs is a way to ?even the score? for the Japanese audience, to show that the Americans were evil also, that there was not much difference between the two.

Good point. I knew there was something about this film I didn't like.

[noodles_leone]

Such a weird way to see this movie. You are blinded by your ideology and miss the OBVIOUS point ("some american soldiers did bad things, but Clint isn't even attacking these people he's just attacking war here") and see anti american propaganda where there will never be (in a Clint Eastwood movie................................................................). It seems like you're guilty of exactly what you're accusing me of about American Sniper.

I don't know much about the battle of Iwo Jima (or about the Pacific Front as a whole) but since I own a brain I never thought the movie was teaching me that the acts of the US in it were the norm. It's basically part of an anti war diptic and isn't about "who's the good side?". It's as simple as that, don't overthink it (the movie doesn't have much room for overthinking anyway) and please, please, don't use some misplaced patriotism. Such a blattant misunderstanding of a scene that should be sooo clich? nowadays (uuuuh an american soldier doing bad stuff in a mainstream movie! Is this communist propaganda?) if you guys hadn't been brainwashed by Hollywood shows we need way, way more LFIJ... even if I agree with the following part of your review :

I thought LFIJ was pretty dull - It took me about five installments to get through the entire thing. FOOF is not great, But it is decent and I was at least able to get through it in one sitting

[drinkanddestroy]

Such a weird way to see this movie. You are blinded by your ideology and miss the OBVIOUS point ("some american soldiers did bad things, but Clint isn't even attacking these people he's just attacking war here") and see anti american propaganda where there will never be (in a Clint Eastwood movie................................................................). It seems like you're guilty of exactly what you're accusing me of about American Sniper.

I don't know much about the battle of Iwo Jima (or about the Pacific Front as a whole) but since I own a brain I never thought the movie was teaching me that the acts of the US in it were the norm. It's basically part of an anti war diptic and isn't about "who's the good side?". It's as simple as that, don't overthink it (the movie doesn't have much room for overthinking anyway) and please, please, don't use some misplaced patriotism. Such a blattant misunderstanding of a scene that should be sooo clich? nowadays (uuuuh an american soldier doing bad stuff in a mainstream movie! Is this communist propaganda?) if you guys hadn't been brainwashed by Hollywood shows we need way, way more LFIJ... even if I agree with the following part of your review :

That scene is not THE REASON I dislike LFIJ. And I know it is not THE POINT of the movie.I just pointed out that it really angered me. I disliked the movie long before that scene, which comes toward the end. It?s not about patriotism; it?s about truth. War crimes like those depicted in the movie were not common on the American side, but certainly were on the Jap side. Fuck Eastwood.

Anyway, I was expecting this comment from an anti-American Frenchie 

[noodles_leone]

That scene is not THE REASON I dislike LFIJ. And I know it is not THE POINT of the movie.I just pointed out that it really angered me. I disliked the movie long before that scene, which comes toward the end. It?s not about patriotism; it?s about truth. War crimes like those depicted in the movie were not common on the American side, but certainly were on the Jap side. Fuck Eastwood.

Anyway, I was expecting this comment from an anti-American Frenchie 

Haha of course you were! I felt like I had to not disappoint you.

But seriously, you?re wrong about that scene. It?s one of the best thing in the movie and isn?t about making the American army look bad.

[drinkanddestroy]

Haha of course you were! I felt like I had to not disappoint you.

But seriously, you?re wrong about that scene. It?s one of the best thing in the movie and isn?t about making the American army look bad.

I am not saying that Eastwood (or the movie) is anti-America. I am saying that since this movie is shown from the Jap perspective, though it is largely critical of the Japanese military culture, I felt like that scene was throwing a bone to the Japs. Like, We?re showing how bad you are, but hey, lemme show the Americans were bad also. Kind of like how a gangster movie doesn?t want to show the cops being noble, so why not also show cops doing dirty things too.

I don?t think the movie is anti-America, but I do think it is throwing a bone to the Japs after being so critical of Japanese culture.

[noodles_leone]

I understand. Still, I think it?s just being true to its chore concept (showing everything from a Japanese perspective). There are probably interviews from the crew about that particular scene though. I?ll look for what I can find.