Avis sur le produitLetters From Iwo Jima (DVD, 2007, 2-Disc Set, Special Edition)

ok not fantastic

This film was superbly done and I agree that it was much better than 'Flags of Our Fathers.' It flowed much better and you actually get to know some of the characters. It's definitely a just tribute to those Japanese soldiers who defended that doomed island and did their duty just like our boys did theirs. Sure there's the significant cultural differences, and you can argue that they started the war, but once those bullets start flying, we all feel the same fear and bleed the same blood. Foot soldiers don't start wars, and only the hardest of hearts could watch this and not feel sympathy for these young men. Another reviewer called this an "anti-bushido" movie and I think there is some truth to that. One of the recurring themes seems to be the contrast between the common soldier who just wants to survive, and the hardcore bushido officers who believe in nothing less than death before dishonor. Personally, there's a part of me that sympathizes with the whole honor-driven samurai tradition, but I can see how many regard it as primitive and senseless. The cave scene with the grenades comes to mind. I also have to say that the score is one of the most touching I've heard in awhile also. The main theme is one of those pieces that tears at your heart. All in all, this will go down as one of Clint Eastwood's finest achievements.Lire l'avis complet...

Letters From Iwo Jima

Iwo Jima was the only place the Japanese had controlled before the War that the Americans had not yet seized. What should have been a one or two-day cakewalk turned into a forty-day ordeal.
General Kuribayashi(Ken Watanabe), conceives the defense of the island against the traditional strategy employed up to that point. He orders his men to dig a series of tunnels into the depths of Mt. Suribachi. It is a doomed defense, as the Japanese forces are far inferior both in number and weaponry, but Kuribayashi tells his men that it is worth it to die defending the island if it means one more day of freedom for their loved ones back home. After Director Clint Eastwood completed filming Flags of Our Fathers, he decided to create the companion film telling the story from the Japanese side of the war.Lire l'avis complet...

Worth The Wait !

Waited forever it seemed to get this from our local video store.

However it was worth the wait!

We saw 'Flags of Our Fathers' first, and then this film, as they were shot at the same time, from the two different warring sides.

Ken Watanabe played a good role, as well as several others in the film.

The subtitles are a little bit of work to read all the time in the privacy of your home, where there are more distractions than a theater.

The film length was fine, and the bonus features worth at least renting this film to view. I don't know if I would re-watch this film unless I was a WWII buff.Lire l'avis complet...

Letters From Iwo Jima is the perfect companion to Flags Of Our Fathers

Another well done film by Clint Eastwood. I watched the companion film Flags Of Our Fathers the week before viewing Letters From Iwo Jima, which was a great film also. In some ways though I found I liked Letters From Iwo Jima better. It may be because of the way Eastwood told the story, which presented the Japanese side of the battle for the Island. Most war films depict the Japanese as a faceless evil enemy, but here they are shown as individuals with the same human hopes, fears, and emotions as the men they are fighting. When viewed together these two films make up a complete telling of this horrible conflict in a way that only a director like Eastwood could tell. The extras on disk 2 are excellent and really shows how complex and impressive this production was.Lire l'avis complet...

Achat vérifié :  Oui | État : neuf | Vendu par : stone_mountain_...

Great war film, 50x better than flags of our fathers

Great war film. Lots of action, drama, suspense, and gore. You get to see first hand, through the eyes of a low ranking soldier, how brutal most (not all) of the Japanese officers were, even to their own troops. The film takes away all stereotypes that every Japanese soldier was a monster. I was reluctant to see it because "Flags of our fathers" was such a god awful film, but Clint Eastwood got it right the second time around with "Letters from Iwo Jima". I highly recomend this film, it is probably the best WWII film about the pacific theatre.Lire l'avis complet...

The other side of the story

I bought this movie as the companion piece to "Flags of Our Fathers". Seldom do we look at a situation, especially one in war time from the point of view of our adversaries. This movie not only does this, it does it well. We see the young Japanese soldiers deal with the trials of day to day life, they questian the logic of their officers, they dream of home and are patriotic. Their mind set is to die gloriously for the empire but it's not their first choice. They want to live and go home too. We see the officers, condemned to an unwinable battle design a defense to make the defeat a very costly victory for the Americans. They too love their families and believe that for every day they hold, one more day free of bombing is gained for the home islands. From a historical point of view, it is extremely well done and is an evening watching it is an evening well spent. We must remember that our enemies have families and love their countries just as we do. As a teaching point this movie teaches respect for an opponent and the horrors of war.Lire l'avis complet...

Grim Reality of War

Japanese cinema in 50s produced a number of films that portrayed grim reality of war, while American war films of the same period about world war 2 tend to just provide the importance of fighting and surviving a war, which was believed worthwhile, overlooking the reality of combat or soldiers’ life in the front line. “The Letter from Iwo Jima,” however, is a film depicting Japanese point of view, which is not often portrayed in non-Japanese productions. What remarkable about this movie is this is an American production with almost entirely Japanese language, and in my opinion, they did a superb job recreating the atmosphere and sentiment among Japanese during the month long battle. The battle itself turned out to be gyokusai sen to the Japanese soldiers, which means the whole point of this battle is to delay American invasion of Japanese main land and die doing so. It is not easy to understand the mentality today, but it also provides the interesting ultimate human conflict in the extreme situations. In this film, there’s no simple good and evil, just dead, dying, and survivors. A WW2 historians will argue about few inaccuracies in this film, but those who have not seen a movies like this, particularly ones that depict Japanese point of view, will be fascinated by how differently war was fought on the other side. It is a movie for intellectuals who consistently try to deepen the understanding of complex nature of human beings from 64 yeas ago.Lire l'avis complet...

Finally a movie that shows that Japanese are humans too

Incredibly moving piece of art. Finally a film that shows the human side of the people of Japan. I liked it (even though it sometimes was a pain following the action...) that the film's original language is Japanese, and only subtitled in English. Makes it all the more credible. I watched it several times in a row, because it moved me so much. I also wanted to make sure that I caught all the aspects the movie offers. What it seems to come down to is this....no matter what country a soldier is fighting for, he needs all the love, support, friendship and humanity he can get, and be allowed his dignity; then he may die with pride for his country, in honor of those he loves and leaves behind, to make sure that they have a chance to live a happy, save life.Lire l'avis complet...

Well done film from the Japanese point of view

I was a bit disappointed with the accuracy of the film. In reality the Japanese did not fight to the last man, but quite a few surrendered, several hundred at the very least were sealed in the caves and tunnel systems by Marines. Many pill boxes and caves that were thought to be taken out became alive again when a replacement crew took over. Marines had no choice but to seal the caves with explosives. Tadamichi Kuribayashi is portrayed as a benevolent man, in real life he was tough as nails and drove his men hard, he was a no-nonsense commanderLire l'avis complet...

This is an interesting and moving film. It's a companion movie to Flags of Our Fathers, also about Iwo Jima in part. Clint Eastwood was involved in

This is an interesting and moving film. It's a companion movie to Flags of Our Fathers, also about Iwo Jima in part. Clint Eastwood was involved in both films as director and co-producer.

Achat vérifié :  Oui | État : occasion | Vendu par : super_sunny_sales