audiences to look at war from the other side, humanizing the "enemies" with solemnity and grace. The reason this one works so well where Flags faltered a bit is because it forces U.S. It is portrayed both by watching the soldiers dig tunnels and prepare for a battle they are unlikely to (and ultimately did not) win, and also through the letters the men write home to their loved ones.
It tells the story of the Japanese service men who held the island of Iwo Jima for 36 days against the U.S. Flags of Our Fathers was from the American point of view, while Letters from Iwo Jima was from the Japanese perspective.įlags of Our Fathers is a serviceable war film, but Letters from Iwo Jima is the real star of the project.
It won seven Oscars, including Best Actor for Guinness.Ĭlint Eastwood did something interesting in 2006 - he released two films depicting the Battle of Iwo Jima from the two perspectives of the sides engaged in the fight. The film takes a stark look at maintaining honor and integrity in the face of war, with Guinness being particularly good as the Lieutenant Colonel driven mad in his obsession to construct a perfect bridge, being singularly focused on the project because he has little else to keep him grounded as a prisoner of war.
But then a commando unit is dispatched with a mission to destroy the bridge because of its military value to the Japanese. officers are forced to construct a railway bridge over the Kwai, despite manual labor being against the Geneva Convention agreement.Įventually the prisoners realize that resisting will get them nowhere (and probably killed), so they use the construction of the bridge as a way to keep busy and take pride in something - anything to escape the horrors of being a POW. A lot of World War II films are set in and around the European theater or Pearl Harbor, but this Alec Guinness vehicle is set in a Japanese prison camp, where captured British and U.S.
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