Sprint to the Oscars - Letters From Iwo Jima

The Sneaky Cheetah continues his quest to see every nominated film before the Academy Awards!

Letters From Iwo Jima
Nominated for Best Picture, Director, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen, and Sound Editing


Well into his 70's, Clint Eastwood is hitting his creative peak and keeps pumping out some of the best films of the decade. He may have directed his career film in Letters From Iwo Jima. Filmed in less then a month on the actual island of IwoJima after Eastwood shot his studio picture Flag of our Fathers, Letters seemed almost an afterthought, a bit of indulgence for Eastwood. He used an entirely new cast, and the film is mostly in Japanese. It's now widely regarded as the better of the two films and I'll call it one of the greatest war films ever made.
It's stark and beautiful. A simple , ugly island with no vegetation, but majestic rock formations , Eastwood shoots the films in a near colorless palette , which further gives it the feel of a classic war film. He explores the soldiers many responses to a hopeless battle, doubting the righteousness of their cause and the honesty of their leaders. The responsibility to country or to morality. And in my eyes he doesn't pass judgement. Some have called this film anti-American, but I don't see it. Both sides are portrayed evenly committing atrocities and showing compassion. It's war. It brings out the best and worst in humanity.
As far as Eastwood's directing, less is more. He avoids the Private Ryan-like chaotic carnage for more restrained but no less exciting battle scenes. (The exception is a gruesome scene where an officer decides the battle is hopeless and orders his men to honorably commit suicide with hand grenades. And they do. One by one.) There's only a few obvious computer effects, another reason this film feels so Old School.
The screenplay was very good, bringing a few tears to my eyes at times. I can't remember any spectacularly memorable examples of the Sound Editing, but sometimes they say it's doing it's best work if you don't notice it. (or is that NFL lineman?)
Letters From Iwo Jima instantly jumped into number 1 as the best film I've seen all year. It is destined to become one of the definitive films of World War II, along with Schindler's List, Bridge on the River Kwai, Saving Private Ryan, and Band of Brothers. Deserving of Best Picture or Director? I think so. I haven't seen the others yet. But Iwo Jima is an All-Time Classic. A

Director Clint Eastwood is a two-time Best Director, in 1993 for Unforgiven and 2005 for Million Dollar Baby. He was also nominated in 2004 for Mystic River.

The Screenwriters are Paul Haggis (winner in 2006 for Crash and nominated in 2004 for Mystic River) and Iris Yamashita who scores her first nomination with her first screenplay.

The Sound Editors are Alan Robert Murray (past nominations for 1985's Ladyhawk, 1989's Lethal Weapon 2, 1996's Eraser, 2000's Space Cowboys, and also nominated this year for Flags of Our Fathers) and his partner Bud Asman who also worked on Eraser, Space Cowboys, and Flags of Our Fathers.

The Oscar history of the three producers of this film are ridiculous. I'm only going to mention their past Best Picture Nominations. You got Clint Eastwood (Best Picture winners Unforgiven and Million Dollar Baby, nominated for Mystic River), Steven Spielberg (Best Picture winner for Schindler's List, nominations for E.T., The Color Purple, Saving Private Ryan, and Munich), and Robert Lorenz a co-producer on Mystic River.

IMHO: When will Ken Watanabe get some respect? This guy is one of the greatest actors EVER, yet Oscar noms continue to elude him. (he got a Supporting nod in 04 for the Last Samurai) His performance is awesome here as Iwo Jima's commander, General Kuribayashi. Strong, emotional, genial, furious... he really is pulled in every direction as an officer who knows he will never leave the island, yet believing that every day he holds out is another day he keeps American forces away from Japan. A legendary performance.