Letters From Iwo Jima

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Letters From Iwo Jima

R,

2007,

2h 21m,

War/

History/

Drama

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Watchlist

91%

201 Reviews

Tomatometer

86%

250,000+ Ratings

Popcornmeter

91%

Tomatometer

201 Reviews

86%

Popcornmeter

250,000+ Ratings

Long-buried missives from the island reveal the stories of the Japanese troops who fought and died there during World War II. Among them are Saigo (Kazunari Ninomiya), a baker; Baron Nishi (Tsuyoshi Ihara), an Olympic champion; and Shimizu (Ryô Kase), an idealistic soldier. Though Lt. Gen. Tadamichi Kuribayashi (Ken Watanabe) knows he and his men have virtually no chance of survival, he uses his extraordinary military skills to hold off American troops as long as possible.

Critics Consensus

A powerfully humanistic portrayal of the perils of war, this companion piece to Flags of our Fathers is potent and thought-provoking, and it demonstrates Clint Eastwood's maturity as a director.

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Brian Tallerico

UGO

Mar 24, 2007

Instead of showing us the differences between the three men, Eastwood chooses to illustrate how much they were alike and, more importantly, how much they resemble you and me.

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Derek Malcolm

London Evening Standard

Feb 23, 2007

4/5

The whole is a more satisfactory entity than Flags of Our Fathers - and the final scene, which has veterans and relatives scouring the tunnels and caves for the buried letters, is a suitably moving coda.

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Anthony Quinn

Independent (UK)

Feb 23, 2007

3/5

Eastwood and his cinematographer Tom Stern have done a superb and possibly unique job in showing both sides of this dreadful battle, and the pair of films together already look monumental.

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Sean Axmaker

Stream on Demand

Jul 28, 2026

It’s almost a mirror to 'Flags of Our Fathers,' putting the audience into the suffocating caves with the [Japanese] soldiers and officers of a doomed army charged with fighting to the death and certain defeat.

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David Walsh

World Socialist Web Site

Feb 14, 2021

One must give Eastwood a good deal of credit ... To make a film about the suffering "your" soldiers endure is one thing, to make one about the horrors inflicted on the "enemy" is something else again.

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Mike Massie

Gone With The Twins

Nov 21, 2020

6/10

Infinitely more compelling than its predecessor, yet equally lengthy and ill-paced.

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Finn L

Feb 7, 2019

good movie, does a good job showing the life and culture of japanese soldiers the acting was good, hard to judge since its in japanese actions scenes were intense and keeps you at the edge of your seat storyline took some unexpected turns, but looking back at it now some parts felt a bit cliche for some reason. i guess the movie hasnt aged well to me character development felt a bit weak. all we really get is "i need to do whatever it takes to see my wife, but i also dont want to lose my humanity." the characters ideals and goals never changed from start to finish. the pace of the movie could feel rushed at times, some scenes would have been better if they were longer, others would be better if they were just a tad shorter overall it is a great movie for those interested in ww2, japanese history, or just want to see a war movie

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Feb 1, 2019

The best epic movie ever made!

George W

Jan 1, 2019

With his two 2006 movies, Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima, Eastwood has stripped away some of the misconceptions about the battle and provided new perspectives. Taken together, the films offer an imperfect but interesting interpretation of history. Of the two, the more straightforward and better focused Letters from Iwo Jima is the stronger movie. This film depicts the battle from the perspective of the losers and it represents the United States as the "enemy." Letters from Iwo Jima remains entrenched upon the island from start to finish (except for a few character-building flashbacks). In terms of its structure, this is more what we expect from a war movie than what Flags of Our Fathers offers. The only character common to both films is the island's rough terrain.

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Han S

Aug 25, 2018

Perhaps the finest WWII movie ever made.

Leia W

Aug 10, 2018

It picks up parallel to its American counterpart, and never lets go. The war is never truly glorified or exaggerated, but it is an important and timeless part of human history.

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Ron S

Jul 12, 2018

A heartfelt masterpiece about the terrible struggles men go through in war. We are all capable of great good, and great evil. This tells a humanistic portrait of the men who bravely fought, compelled by the soulless governments that sent them to battle.

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Clint Eastwood

Director

Ken Watanabe

Gen. Tadamichi Kuribayashi

Kazunari Ninomiya

Saigo

Tsuyoshi Ihara

Baron Nishi

Ryô Kase

Shimizu

Shido Nakamura

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Synopsis

Long-buried missives from the island reveal the stories of the Japanese troops who fought and died there during World War II. Among them are Saigo (Kazunari Ninomiya), a baker; Baron Nishi (Tsuyoshi Ihara), an Olympic champion; and Shimizu (Ryô Kase), an idealistic soldier. Though Lt. Gen. Tadamichi Kuribayashi (Ken Watanabe) knows he and his men have virtually no chance of survival, he uses his extraordinary military skills to hold off American troops as long as possible.

Director: Clint Eastwood
Producer: Steven Spielberg, Robert Lorenz
Screenwriter: Iris Yamashita
Distributor: Warner Bros.
Production Co: Amblin Entertainment, Warner Bros., Malpaso Company, DreamWorks SKG
Rating: R (Graphic War Violence)
Genre: War, History, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Feb 9, 2007, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Dec 1, 2008
Box Office (Gross USA): $13.8M
Runtime: 2h 21m
Sound Mix: Dolby Digital, DTS, SDDS
Aspect Ratio: Scope (2.35:1)

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