The story of the battle of Iwo Jima between the United States and Imperial Japan during World War II, as told from the perspective of the Japanese who fought it.The story of the battle of Iwo Jima between the United States and Imperial Japan during World War II, as told from the perspective of the Japanese who fought it.The story of the battle of Iwo Jima between the United States and Imperial Japan during World War II, as told from the perspective of the Japanese who fought it.
- Won 1 Oscar
- 25 wins & 39 nominations total
Shidô Nakamura
- Lieutenant Ito
- (as Shidou Nakamura)
Lucas Elliot Eberl
- Sam
- (as Lucas Elliot)
Sonny Saito
- Medic Endo
- (as Sonny Seiichi Saito)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaMost of the young cast knew nothing about the incidents on Iwo Jima, as it is not taught in Japanese schools.
- GoofsThe bottle of Johnnie Walker appears to have a screw cap made of aluminum. At that time liquor bottles had a cork stopper.
- Quotes
Baron Nishi: [reading the letter from the mother of Sam, the dead marine] Remember what I said to you: always do what's right because it is right.
- SoundtracksString Quartet No.6, Op. 1-6, Hob. III-6, Mov.2
Composed by Joseph Haydn
At a party where Ken Watanabe participated
Featured review
Deeply Moving
At the conclusion of the film a person behind me said, "Incredible," twice. Another person followed with, "A masterpiece." I would concur. Perhaps it isn't a perfect film but it is a movie with great impact. I find that it is a testament to the skill of Clint Eastwood as a director and Iris Yamashita as screenwriter that some of the scenes that had the greatest impact were of minor thingsa letter read out loud, the way someone saluted, a tear, a song...
There were no clear cut heroes or villains beyond "war" itself. I'm reminded of that saying, "No one wins a war. One side simply loses more than the other." War diminishes us all. We must learn to turn our backs on such endeavors even if it means that the military/industrial death merchants take a cut in profits or that they truly learn to hammer swords into plow shares.
If the film were to depict the battle in a manner that was realistically experienced by the soldiers the film would be unbearable to any viewer. One must see the battle and history as a kind of allegorical backdrop to a story about the utter inhumanity and futility of war. As a film it had to illustrate the overall societal insanity of war through a human lens, and it did this in a deeply moving way.
There were no clear cut heroes or villains beyond "war" itself. I'm reminded of that saying, "No one wins a war. One side simply loses more than the other." War diminishes us all. We must learn to turn our backs on such endeavors even if it means that the military/industrial death merchants take a cut in profits or that they truly learn to hammer swords into plow shares.
If the film were to depict the battle in a manner that was realistically experienced by the soldiers the film would be unbearable to any viewer. One must see the battle and history as a kind of allegorical backdrop to a story about the utter inhumanity and futility of war. As a film it had to illustrate the overall societal insanity of war through a human lens, and it did this in a deeply moving way.
helpful•316
- cloudsponge
- Jan 22, 2007
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official sites
- Languages
- Also known as
- Red Sun, Black Sand
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $19,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $13,756,082
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $89,097
- Dec 24, 2006
- Gross worldwide
- $68,673,228
- Runtime2 hours 21 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.39 : 1
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