Letters from Iwo Jima

They used a post-WWII Russian (Soviet) army vehicle.

A Gaz 69, which was first produced in 1953 and was produced until 1972.

In the tunnel battle to defend Mt Suribachi, when the Japanese soldier looks up the cave opening and is about to get set alight by the Marine's flamethrower, it is clearly visible that the uniform has been wetted with the fireproof grease, but a few moments before that, his uniform was completely dry.

The world map seen in the Japanese command center on Iwo Jima does not demarcate the then British colony of Newfoundland, including it a part of Canada instead.

Newfoundland did not join Canada until 1949.

All the motor vehicles have the steering wheel on the left.

Japanese vehicles, like the British, have the steering wheel on the right, as they keep to the left side of the road.

The bottle of Johnnie Walker appears to have a screw cap made of aluminum.

At that time liquor bottles had a cork stopper.

The Japanese script uses a number of "gairago" (foreign loanwords), which are in current use, but would have been frowned upon by the nationalist government at the time.

These include "raifuru" for "rifle" and "jiipu" for "jeep".

In the second-to-last scene, the captured Japanese soldier is taken to the American landing zones, which were exclusively on the east of Iwo Jima, just north of Mt.

Suribachi.

The soldier, Saigo, then witnesses the sun 'setting' in the east, not the west.

The artillery shell landing near Saigo when he empties the stinky bucket does not exhibit rifling marks on its driving band.

Any shell fired through a rifled barrel would show these, therefore this projectile had never been fired from a gun.

During the rainstorm about 25 minutes into the movie, several soldiers disembark from a plane.

The first soldier's clothing is nice and dry before he steps out into the rain but the second two already have wet jackets, suggesting this was not the first take of this scene.

In the scene where General Kuribayashi recognizes Saigo in the tunnels, his clearly visible tunic collar insignia are that of a Chujo (Lieutenant- General), consisting on two silver five-pointed stars over a yellow strip.

Instead Kuribayashy was promoted to full generalship (Japanese rank Taisho) in March 1945 before being sent to Iwo Jima, and he should wear a yellow collar strip with three silver stars.

Clint made a big deal in both films about Ralph Ignatowskis story, but when it came to giving any insight as to what happened has seemingly decided it was best not to create any bad feeling. According to this movie he was simply bayoneted.

Letters from Iwo Jima is a brilliant and far superior companion to Flags of Our Fathers. Exploring the defence of Iwo Jima from the perspective of the Japanese, the film synthesis is achieved through amazing performances by Watanabe and Ninomiya, brilliant writing and a poignant and dramatic soundtrack.

The companion piece to Flags of Our Fathers, Letters From Iwo Jima is the second & final chapter of Clint Eastwood's Iwo Jima saga that's filmed almost entirely in Japanese, defies the stereotypical portrait of the Japanese in Hollywood features, and presents welcome improvements in various filmmaking aspects to succeed as the better film of the two.Set at Iwo Jima in 1944, the story of Letters From Iwo Jima covers the Battle of Iwo Jima between the United States & Imperial Japan during the Second World War.

In 2006 director Clint Eastwood ventured to tell the same war story from two different perspectives through two tapes. In 'Letters from Iwo Jima' Eastwood tells us how the Japanese soldiers had to face the Americans defending the island of Iwo Jima.

"It's strange, I promised myself to fight until death for my family.... but the thought of my family makes it difficult to keep that promise....

There were two films made by Clint Eastwood about the battle in Iwo Jima. One is Flag Of Our Fathers, the battle in Iwo Jima from the perspective of the American soldiers and this one, The Letters From Iwo Jima, the battle in the said place from the perspective of the Japanese soldiers.

Letters from Iwo Jima is a well-made film that does an effective job of showing the horrors of war. It is one of the rare WWII movies that focuses on the fight between the US and Japan rather than the European part of the war that we typically see.

With a strong score that accurately coveys the emotion felt by the soldiers of the Imperial army this war drama uses its characters tremendously. Through flashbacks and voiceovers, we come to know these characters and become attached.

This movie is actually quite interesting as the directors of this movie were mostly foreigners instead Japanese themselves but its too damn good that I must give it a 10. Letters From Iwo Jima is a movie based on Japanese Soldiers defending Iwo Jima with their last breathe.