Letters From Iwo Jima

"Letters from Iwo Jima" is the other side of "Flags of Our Fathers", both movies by Clint Eastwood. "Flags of Our Fathers" is based on a book regarding the battle at Iwo Jima from the point of view of the Iwo Jima flag raisers. "Letters from Iwo Jima" depicts the same battle, but this time from the Japanese point of view. It is also based on letters (turned into a book?) by General Tadamichi Kuribayashi, the Japanese commander in charge of defending Iwo Jima.

I liked both films, but the tone of the two films are quite different, and that is not just because they depict different sides of the same battle. "Letters from Iwo Jima" has a bit more subtlety, less in your face battles and gigantic explosions, and focuses on less people. That doesn't mean it's not very gory, however. The screenplay was written by a Japanese-American screenwriter, which probably also had a hand in the different tone.

It's difficult to say which movie is "better", the tone of both movies gives them different characters which makes them seem incomparable. Regardless, to me, it is a good film,a nd was nominated and won several awards too. Regardless if you watched "Flags of Our Fathers" (even more so if you did and liked it!), go see "Letters from Iwo Jima".