Letters from Iwo Jima.. Three Thumbs Up!!!
Caught the foreign film by Clint Eastwood and Steven Spielberg two nights ago.
Letters from Iwo Jima.
I cried.
Thats how good it is.. I give it a three thumbs up... If I have three thumbs I would.. Its the best foreign film I've seen so far... Fantastic buildup of the whole storyline.. Gripping emotional scenes.. Devastating effects of the real war that actually took place decades ago.. Heart wrenching moments.. and many more..
Ken Watanabe is THE MAN... Outstanding performance in Letters from Iwo Jima.. He's so good in the film that I actually believed that he might have been there on Iwo Jima decades ago fighting the Americans. He was so convincing as the General.. well, it'll be a honour to served under him though..
But well, it wasn't the General character that I felt for the most.. Its another guy... A guy who was the only survivor from the Japanese side on Iwo Jima.. The only man to walk out of the battle alive on that volcanic little island.. He survived not because he fought the war, its because he did not engage in any fights on the battlefield at all.. He dodges from caves to caves just to avoid the gun fire.. He was enlisted and sent there not by his own will.. He didn't want to be there.. fighting a war which he cannot understands why.. He wants to quit but he can't..
He was labeled as a coward by his commanders.. He flees when his comrades commits suicide in the caves after they lost the fight over the Americans.. He hides away from the confrontation of bullets when his fellow countrymen brave the rounds with their bodies..
One by one he watch them fall.. Untill he see his respectable General fall right in front of him.. He was the one who saved him by asking him to stay while he and the rest of the remaining troops marched out to face the Americans in the final attempt to retaliate.. But resistance is futile.. Those that went out that day didn't make it back to the cave.
Except for the coward..his task was to burn everything up and leave no trace at all.. He did what he was told to do except for the letters that his fellow countrymen wrote.. The letters never got out of the island.. they got piled up in bundles and bundles.. all through the 40 days long of battle, all the emotional struggles and physical torments... all written in the letters that meant to be sent home.. but didn't.. The coward dug up a hole and bury the entire bundle in it..
Little will he know that these will be found and dug up decades after the war.. to be of good testimonials for the heroes that fought the war on Iwo Jima.. to tell the world what exactly happen on that island that time..
Why does that guy do such treasonous acts in the battle of Iwo Jima? Has he no love for the country? Does he fear death? Is he a coward by nature? Has he no compassion after seeing his countrymen dies trying to save him?
All this because of a promise that he made.
A promise to his loving wife and unborn child back home. That he will return home safe and sound... to watch his kid grow up and lead a simple life as a baker with his wife and grow old together holding hands in the evening sunset of Yokohama..
A promise that many made to their love ones before they left for war.
A promise that not many were able to keep.
He kept it.
But the price to pay for was great. He have to live the rest of his life with guilt in his conscience.. knowing that he had not fight alongside with his comrades yet survived while others didn't.
Is it worth it? I feel that it is.. some may disagree with me.. but I think that I rather be with my loved ones and die together when war hits us at home than dying alone on the battlefields fighting a war that is not even your own..
For me I would do that.. I rather be the coward in everybody's eyes and be the hero of my loved ones in their life..
What about you? 