Iris Hitomi Yamashita, who wrote story and script for this production, is certainly to be honored and not overlooked as we remember this great movie. This approach, an American movie from the point of view of the enemy, is not quite new. Erich Maria Remarque's semi-autobiographical novel drawn from his time as a German soldier in WWI (Im Westen nichts Neues), All Quiet at the Western Front, (1929) comes to mind. The American movie, directed by Lewis Milestone, released in 1930. It, too, was powerful and so much so that it changed the life direction of its star, Lew Ayres.
What is new, however, the story and script are by an American (Yamashita was born in Missouri). Her two degrees are from American Universities in California.
The Japanese language approach, in my opinion, now in the contemporary Hollywood milieu, would not have taken place without Mel Gibson's amazing The Passion of the Christ, (2004) which while written in Latin and Aramaic, two languages long dead, grossed in excess of $600 million. To Hollywood suits, that is serious business. Thus, many us of eagerly awaited an American film in contemporary Japanese language without any hesitation.
Like many, I am a long time Clint Eastwood fan and watched his continuous growth on screen from the gritty little Rawhide TV show to the Spaghetti Westerns, and on to the Dirty Harry series. His first movie as a director, Play Misty for Me, which he made while still under the wing of Don Siegel, is actually one of my favorite Eastwood movies. However, Letters from Iwo Jima (2006) stands as his masterpiece.
Chances are, even if Eastwood was half the age he is today, he would never again find the happy conjunction to create anything quite as powerful, memorable and spiritually triumphant.
For me, this is one of the best Hollywood movies produced in the past half century.
What is new, however, the story and script are by an American (Yamashita was born in Missouri). Her two degrees are from American Universities in California.
The Japanese language approach, in my opinion, now in the contemporary Hollywood milieu, would not have taken place without Mel Gibson's amazing The Passion of the Christ, (2004) which while written in Latin and Aramaic, two languages long dead, grossed in excess of $600 million. To Hollywood suits, that is serious business. Thus, many us of eagerly awaited an American film in contemporary Japanese language without any hesitation.
Like many, I am a long time Clint Eastwood fan and watched his continuous growth on screen from the gritty little Rawhide TV show to the Spaghetti Westerns, and on to the Dirty Harry series. His first movie as a director, Play Misty for Me, which he made while still under the wing of Don Siegel, is actually one of my favorite Eastwood movies. However, Letters from Iwo Jima (2006) stands as his masterpiece.
Chances are, even if Eastwood was half the age he is today, he would never again find the happy conjunction to create anything quite as powerful, memorable and spiritually triumphant.
For me, this is one of the best Hollywood movies produced in the past half century.