Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)
“Iōjima Kara no Tegami”.
Action, Adventure, Drama |
Letters from Iwo Jima is a Japanese-language American war film directed and co-produced by Clint Eastwood, starring Ken Watanabe and Kazunari Ninomiya. The film portrays the Battle of Iwo Jima from the perspective of the Japanese soldiers and is a companion piece to Eastwood’s Flags of Our Fathers, which depicts the same battle from the American viewpoint; the two films were shot back to back. Letters from Iwo Jima is almost entirely in Japanese, although it was produced by American companies DreamWorks, Malpaso Productions, and Amblin Entertainment. After Flags of Our Fathers flopped at the box office, Paramount Pictures swapped the distribution rights in the United States to Warner Bros. for the international rights (excluding Japan).
The film was released in Japan on December 9, 2006 and received a limited release in the United States on December 20, 2006 in order to be eligible for consideration for the 79th Academy Awards. It was subsequently released in more areas of the U.S. on January 12, 2007, and was released in most states on January 19. An English-dubbed version of the film premiered on April 7, 2008. Upon release, the film received critical acclaim and did slightly better at the box office than its companion.
In 2005, Japanese archaeologists explore tunnels on Iwo Jima, where they find something in the dirt.
The scene changes to Iwo Jima in 1944. Private First Class Saigo and his platoon are digging beach trenches on the island. Meanwhile, Lieutenant General Tadamichi Kuribayashi arrives to take command of the garrison and immediately begins an inspection of the island defenses. He saves Saigo and his friend Kashiwara from a beating by Captain Tanida for ‘unpatriotic speeches’, and orders the men to begin tunneling underground defenses into Mount Suribachi. Kuribayashi and Lieutenant Colonel Baron Takeichi Nishi, a famous Olympic gold medalist show jumper, clash with some of the other officers, who do not agree with Kuribayashi’s defense in depth strategy: Kuribayashi believes the US will take the beaches quickly, and that the mountain defenses will have a better chance for holding out.
Director: Clint Eastwood
Writers: Iris Yamashita (screenplay & story), Paul Haggis (story), Tadamichi Kuribayashi (book), Tsuyoko Yoshido (book)
Stars: Ken Watanabe, Kazunari Ninomiya, Tsuyoshi Ihara, Ryô Kase, Shidô Nakamura, Hiroshi Watanabe, Takumi Bando
Cast:
| Ken Watanabe | … | General Kuribayashi |
| Kazunari Ninomiya | … | Saigo |
| Tsuyoshi Ihara | … | Baron Nishi |
| Ryô Kase | … | Shimizu |
| Shidô Nakamura | … | Lieutenant Ito (as Shidou Nakamura) |
| Hiroshi Watanabe | … | Lieutenant Fujita |
| Takumi Bando | … | Captain Tanida |
| Yuki Matsuzaki | … | Nozaki |
| Takashi Yamaguchi | … | Kashiwara |
| Eijiro Ozaki | … | Lieutenant Okubo |
| Nae | … | Hanako |
| Nobumasa Sakagami | … | Admiral Ohsugi |
| Lucas Elliot Eberl | … | Sam (as Lucas Elliot) |
| Sonny Saito | … | Medic Endo (as Sonny Seiichi Saito) |
| Steve Santa Sekiyoshi | … | Kanda |
| Hiro Abe | … | Lt. Colonel Oiso |
| Toshiya Agata | … | Captain Iwasaki |
| Yoshi Ishii | … | Private Yamazaki |
| Toshi Toda | … | Colonel Adachi |
| Ken Kensei | … | Maj. General Hayashi |
| Ikuma Ando | … | Ozawa |
| Akiko Shima | … | Lead Woman |
| Masashi Nagadoi | … | Admiral Ichimaru |
| Mark Moses | … | American Officer |
| Roxanne Hart | … | Officer’s Wife |
| Yoshio Iizuka | … | Tired Soldier |
| Mitsu | … | Suicide Soldier (as Mitsu Kurokawa) |
| Takuji Kuramoto | … | Ono |
| Avery Wada | … | Hashimoto (as Koji Wada) |
| Yoshi Tomo Kaneda | … | Japanese Soldier #1 (as Akira Kaneda) |
| Shoji Hattori | … | Japanese Soldier #2 |
| Mark Tadashi Takahashi | … | Japanese Soldier #3 |
| Mitsuyuki Oishi | … | Japanese Soldier #4 |
| Evan Ellingson | … | Kid Marine |
| Kazuyuki Morosawa | … | Ito’s Guard |
| Masayuki Yonezawa | … | Ito’s Soldier |
| Hiroshi Tom Tanaka | … | Hopeless Soldier |
| Mathew Botuchis | … | American Marine |
| Yukari Black | … | Mother |
| Daisuke Nagashima | … | Prisoner |
| Kirk Enochs | … | Marine Officer |
| Ryan Kelley | … | Marine #2 |
| Jonathan Oliver Sessler | … | Marine #3 |
| Michael Lawson | … | Marine #4 |
| Taishi Mizuno | … | Cave Soldier #1 |
| Daisuke Tsuji | … | Cave Soldier #2 |
| Yoshi Ando | … | Excavator #1 |
| Yutaka Takeuchi | … | Excavator #2 |
| Tsuguo Mizuno | … | Lead Excavator |
| Mark Ofuji | … | Kuribayashi’s Guard |
| Hallock Beals | … | Marine at Clearing |
| Ryan Carnes | … | Marine at Clearing |
| Jeremy Glazer | … | Marine Lieutenant |
| Ryoya Katsuyama | … | Boy |
| Masashi Odate | … | Cook |
| London Kim | … | Okubo’s Soldier |
| Dick ‘Skip’ Evans | … | Pilot (as Skip Evans) |
| Wanliss E. Armstrong | … | Pilot |
| Rio Ahn | … | Wounded Japanese Soldier (uncredited) |
| Jean-Luc Julien | … | American Officer (voice) (uncredited) |
| Satch Watanabe | … | Prisoner (voice) (uncredited) |
Sources: imdb & wikipedia