Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)

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Director: Clint Eastwood

Writers: Iris Yamashita, story by Iris Yamashita & Paul Haggis, from the book "Picture Letters from Commander in Chief" by Tadamichi Kuribayashi and edited by Tsuyoko Yoshido

Stars: Ken Watanabe, Kazunari Ninomiya, Tsuyoshi Ihara, Ryo Kase, Shido Nakamura, Hiroshi Watanabe, Takumi Bando, Yuki Matsuzaki


This American film presents the battle for Iwo Jima from the perspective of the outnumbered Japanese soldiers who were stationed there.



 Saigo (Kazunari Ninomiya), a baker with a wife and a daughter he has never met, is not seduced by the nationalistic fervor that prefers death to defeat. 



He wants to go home to his family. 



The new commander on the island, Gen. Kuribayashi (Ken Watanabe), who has lived in the United States and cherishes a pistol that was a going-away gift from his American friends, is resolved to fight for his homeland.



 Watanabe projects the weary determination of a man fated to play his part in a conflict that he personally feels is a historical tragedy. 



Director Clint Eastwood has made a remarkable film that affirms common humanity across temporary divisions of national self-interest.

 

Spoiler alert!!! The end of the movie!!











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