With 'Letters from Iwo Jima', Clint Eastwood, and writers Paul Haggis and Iris Yamashita, becomes a kind of Japanese Leni Riefenstahl turning a blind eye to the horrors perpetrated by the Japanese Imperial regime to focus on the humanity and stoic pride of the individual soldiers.
Several thousand Japanese were tried, convicted, and executed for war crimes following WW2. The Japanese army was responsible for the targeted killing of millions of civilians throughout South East Asia, appalling medical and surgical experimentation on prisoners, the use of chemical and biological weapons, the widespread use of torture and forced labor, institutionalized rape, and sex slavery. The Japanese perpetrated acts that equaled those of Nazi Germany in their cruelty and wanton disregard for international standards. Of course there were Japanese soldiers who were scared, just as there were those who acted courageously, but it should never be forgotten, when viewing these sympathetic characters, that in realty, they casually supported horrifying and truly outrageous abuses of basic human rights in the service of the Emperor. Yes, at Iwo Jima they were defending Japanese soil, but only after having invaded Korea, Taiwan, China, Singapore, and Indochina while launching unprovoked attacks on both Australia and the United States.
'Letters from Iwo Jima' is a very well made movie. Its looks beautiful, being crafted with precision and real artistry, and the performances are universally excellent. But there is something decidedly unsettling about writers who, through ignorance or naivety, turn a blind eye to the atrocities carried out by the Japanese army and try to paint the Japanese military as the moral and ethical equals of the Americans. It's a dangerously inaccurate comparison. Despite the subsequent use of the atom bomb on Japan, and the resulting death toll, the United States military in WW2 never made it official policy to rape, torture and execute millions of innocent civilians.
It's little wonder that the film has been so popular in Japan, who has long struggled to truly acknowledge their acts during the war, and in Eastwood and co, have found the one-time-enemy white-washing their culpability far more effectively, and to a far larger audience, than they themselves ever could. 'Letters from Iwo Jima' is an excellent movie, but the writers' pseudo-liberal revisionism makes the whole thing more than a little unpalatable.
Several thousand Japanese were tried, convicted, and executed for war crimes following WW2. The Japanese army was responsible for the targeted killing of millions of civilians throughout South East Asia, appalling medical and surgical experimentation on prisoners, the use of chemical and biological weapons, the widespread use of torture and forced labor, institutionalized rape, and sex slavery. The Japanese perpetrated acts that equaled those of Nazi Germany in their cruelty and wanton disregard for international standards. Of course there were Japanese soldiers who were scared, just as there were those who acted courageously, but it should never be forgotten, when viewing these sympathetic characters, that in realty, they casually supported horrifying and truly outrageous abuses of basic human rights in the service of the Emperor. Yes, at Iwo Jima they were defending Japanese soil, but only after having invaded Korea, Taiwan, China, Singapore, and Indochina while launching unprovoked attacks on both Australia and the United States.
'Letters from Iwo Jima' is a very well made movie. Its looks beautiful, being crafted with precision and real artistry, and the performances are universally excellent. But there is something decidedly unsettling about writers who, through ignorance or naivety, turn a blind eye to the atrocities carried out by the Japanese army and try to paint the Japanese military as the moral and ethical equals of the Americans. It's a dangerously inaccurate comparison. Despite the subsequent use of the atom bomb on Japan, and the resulting death toll, the United States military in WW2 never made it official policy to rape, torture and execute millions of innocent civilians.
It's little wonder that the film has been so popular in Japan, who has long struggled to truly acknowledge their acts during the war, and in Eastwood and co, have found the one-time-enemy white-washing their culpability far more effectively, and to a far larger audience, than they themselves ever could. 'Letters from Iwo Jima' is an excellent movie, but the writers' pseudo-liberal revisionism makes the whole thing more than a little unpalatable.