These two movies should always be watched together, if at all possible. They just should be!
For those who don't know, Clint Eastwood directed both films around the same time (maybe even at the same time!) and they depict the World War II battle for the island of Iwo Jima, from both the American perspective (Flags) and the Japanese (Letters). At several key points, it's actually quite eerie to see some of the same scenes from two different POVs. For example, when a member of the US Army goes after a Japanese entrenchment with a flamethrower, his actions are likely to evoke a reaction of "Yeah!" during Flags on the one hand, and an inescapable sense of revulsion when it shows up again in Letters, once you've started to identify with the people on the receiving end of it! This is a truly masterful accomplishment by Eastwood and the screenwriters, and made it a movie-watching experience unlike anything I'd been through before.
The more mainstream of the two productions - Flags Of Our Fathers, with its American cast, straight-forward story and relatively minor culture-shock value - is the lightweight of the two films, though that's hardly a damning comparison. It's still quite good, but never quite achieves its own level of greatness. Certainly if it hadn't been preceded by Saving Private Ryan and the HBO mini-series Band of Brothers, it would've delivered a much bigger punch with its battle scenes on the island itself. The majority of it, though, is spent detailing the plight of three of the servicemen who took part in the raising of the American flag at the top of a high hill on Iwo Jima. It turns out that there'd actually been two flags raised there, as the first one was taken down when word arrived that some politician wanted the flag for his own purposes, inspiring the military honchos to substitute a new flag so that they could hold on to the original. (Especially poignant was the American mother who saw the famous photo in her newspaper and identified her son by his derriere, only to be told by the US military that she was wrong... all created by the confusion over there being two flags, and exacerbated by the sad fact that her son was killed in action shortly thereafter, leaving her with nothing where she might've at least had that.) That's somewhat interesting - if true - and definitely something I didn't know before watching the movie.
Nor did I have any idea how much of a big deal was made of that scene back Stateside, as support for the War Effort was failing and War Bond drives were coming up miserably short. Though the terms probably didn't exist back then, this was a textbook case of the Hype Machine kicking into overdrive, as a trio of flag-raising soldiers were sent home and out on tour, traveling from city to city as "the heroes of Iwo Jima," and even sometimes being asked to recreate their achievement on paper mache hills in football stadiums! Among the three are an American Indian who still can't get served in some redneck bars while on this journey, a reluctant hero of a medic who can't forget that most of the actual people involved died shortly after the flag-raising, and an opportunist who's more than happy to take advantage of every new door that's being opened to him. His equally-eager girlfriend is portrayed by Melanie Lynskey, familiar to the wife and I as the somewhat-crazed new mom on the short-lived Drive TV show, as well as being the co-star, along with Kate Winslet, in Peter Jackson's Heavenly Creatures movie of many years ago. But I digress!
Letters From Iwo Jima, on the other hand, is a much more complex tale, and not simply because it involves reading subtitles! I shudder to think, though, of all the people who'll never see this film because of that one (apparently, limiting) fact. Among the many things they'll miss are yet another great performance by Ken Watanabe and some gut-wrenching scenes within the caves and hills of Iwo Jima. While not necessarily of the same calibre as a Kurasawa classic, Letters nonetheless echoes some of Akira's trademark touches: there's the pair of characters who slowly transform from clowns into objects of great pathos and emotional depth, tyrannical leaders who dominate the common man in petty ways, and no easy answers to any of the complicated questions.
For example, why are the Japanese still fighting, so late in the war? Because they've been told to, because they've been lead to believe that they're winning, or possibly because the savage Americans will destroy their homeland if they don't fight! At one point, late in the film, a contingent of the Japanese soldiers, who've carried on the fight despite their food, water and ammunition all running out, are confronted with a wounded American prisoner of the type they've spent years vilifying from afar. After he dies from his wounds, a member of the group who speaks English reads a letter the dead man was carrying, from his mother. Much to their shock and horror, they discover that she, like their own parents, had exhorted her son to do what was right and just, not for God or country, but simply because it's the right thing to do. In a later scene, though, two American soldiers decide to kill a couple of Japanese POWs rather than be saddled with them, possibly justifying the 'savage' label after all. Definitely no easy answers here.
Clint Eastwood has directed many movies in his career, but the two that had stood out for me before seeing this pair were Unforgiven and Million Dollar Baby. In the former, he got me to love a Western; in the latter, to at least really enjoy and admire a boxing movie. Both of those were firsts, and unexpected. I wasn't as surprised by my reaction to these bookends on the story of Iwo Jima, but it was a thrilling ride all the same!
Flags Of Our Fathers Rating: *** 1/2
Letters From Iwo Jima Rating: ****
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