Thursday

I saw Letters from Iwo Jima yesterday (having once again misread the show times), but have been hesitating to post a review. Why? Well, I'm simply not sure what I think of it. Perhaps I need to see Flags of our Fathers to get some perspective, but I don't think the two films are related at all. From what I know, the latter is all about the after effects of the battle on American soldiers. The one I saw is about the run up to the battle from the Japanese perspective. Of course there are lots of connections, but in terms of direct relations, I don't think there are any. So, I must struggle to give a verdict of this one alone. I did think it was good. But it was overlong and sometimes rambling. The forward thrust was sometimes lost in irrelevant details as things started, stopped, then started again. In truth, at moments I got bored waiting for something to happen. Perhaps the greatest interest of this film, then, is to have shown the battle from a Japanese perspective. But I think there's more than that here. The filmmaker doesn't take sides at all. No one is good or bad. It is a stunning insight into the breakdown of an ideology, the loss of control and order, as soldiers wander randomly around the caves, trying to avoid Americans, occasionally committing suicide, or killing each other for trying to surrender. It is fascinating, but I have doubts as to how long it will stand as a really good film.