Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)
88%RT Audience Score: 86%
Awards & Nominations: Won 1 Oscar
24 wins & 39 nominations total
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
Letters from Iwo Jima” is a war movie that will make you feel all the feels. Clint Eastwood did a great job showing both sides of the battle, and you can’t help but feel for the soldiers on both sides. Plus, you’ll realize just how young and innocent many of these men were before they were turned into killing machines. It’s a powerful reminder of the simple humanity in all of us, even in the midst of war. And let’s be real, who doesn’t love a good war movie that makes you cry?
Production Company(ies)
Distributor
Warner Bros.
Release Type
Theatrical
Filming Location(s)
Iwo Jima, Japan
MPAA / Certificate
Rated R for graphic war violence
Year of Release
2007
-
Color:Color
-
Sound mix:DTSS DDS Dolby Digital
-
Aspect ratio:2.39 : 1
-
Runtime:2h 21m
-
Language(s):Japanese, English
-
Country of origin:United States
-
Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Feb 9, 2007 Wide
Release Date (Streaming): May 6, 2008
Genre(s)
Drama
Keyword(s)
Letters from Iwo Jima, Ken Watanabe, Kazunari Ninomiya, Tsuyoshi Ihara, Ryô Kase, Shido Nakamura, Yuki Matsuzaki, War, Clint Eastwood, Steven Spielberg, Robert Lorenz, Iris Yamashita, R, Graphic War Violence, Warner Bros., Dolby Digital, DTS, SDDS, Scope (2.35:1), $13.8M, 204 Reviews, 91% TOMATOMETER, 86% AUDIENCE SCORE, reviewed by Brian Tallerico, Derek Malcolm, Anthony Quinn, Tim Robey, Peter Bradshaw, James Christopher, David Walsh, Mike Massie, Mattie Lucas, directed by Clint Eastwood, starring Ken Watanabe as Gen Tadamichi Kuribayashi, Kazunari Ninomiya as Saigo, Tsuyoshi Ihara as Baron Nishi, Ryô Kase as Shimizu, Shido Nakamura as Lt Ito, Yuki Matsuzaki as Nozaki, produced by Clint Eastwood, Steven Spielberg, Robert Lorenz, written by Iris Yamashita
Worldwide gross: $68,673,228
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $98,379,062
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,028
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 10,728,360
US/Canada gross: $13,756,082
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $19,706,522
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,420
US/Canada opening weekend: $89,097
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $127,638
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,843
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): $19,000,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): $27,218,790
Production budget ranking: 1,208
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): $14,657,318
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): $56,502,953
ROI to date (est.): 135%
ROI ranking: 812
Kazunari Ninomiya – Saigo
Tsuyoshi Ihara – Baron Nishi
Ryô Kase – Shimizu
Shido Nakamura – Lt. Ito
Yuki Matsuzaki – Nozaki
Director(s)
Clint Eastwood
Writer(s)
Iris Yamashita
Producer(s)
Clint Eastwood, Steven Spielberg, Robert Lorenz
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
Won 1 Oscar
24 wins & 39 nominations total
Academy Awards
Oscar Best Achievement in Sound Editing Winners, Oscar Nominees, Oscar Winners
All Critics (204) | Top Critics (59) | Fresh (186) | Rotten (18)
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.
March 24, 2007
Brian Tallerico
UGO
TOP CRITIC
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.
February 23, 2007 | Rating: 4/5
Derek Malcolm
London Evening Standard
TOP CRITIC
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.
February 23, 2007 | Rating: 3/5
Anthony Quinn
Independent (UK)
TOP CRITIC
Eastwood has made one of the most quietly devastating war movies of our time.
February 23, 2007
Tim Robey
Daily Telegraph (UK)
TOP CRITIC
High-minded and generous, but lacking in real passion and flair.
February 23, 2007 | Rating: 3/5
Peter Bradshaw
Guardian
TOP CRITIC
The moral is hardly original. The scale certainly is. Only a director of Eastwood’s standing could possibly terrify enough producers into financing this decidedly foreign, but impressively chunky, white elephant.
February 23, 2007 | Rating: 3/5
James Christopher
Times (UK)
TOP CRITIC
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.
February 14, 2021
David Walsh
World Socialist Web Site
Infinitely more compelling than its predecessor, yet equally lengthy and ill-paced.
November 21, 2020 | Rating: 6/10
Mike Massie
Gone With The Twins
A subdued masterpiece with a unique perspective on war.
November 21, 2019 | Rating: A-
Micheal Compton
Bowling Green Daily News
In coming to understand the point of view of the opposing side, Eastwood has crafted two masterful and distinct films who are still inexorably intertwined that speak to the simple humanity in all of us.
June 6, 2019 | Rating: 4/4
Mattie Lucas
The Dispatch (Lexington, NC)
You realize how very young many of these men were, and how ill-suited to be turned into killing machines.
August 23, 2018
Ian Buruma
The New York Review of Books
Modern-day echoes of being snookered into a bad war aren’t lost on Clint Eastwood, and “Letters from Iwo Jima” delivers an overwhelmingly powerful eulogy for the death of righteousness in combat on either side of the line.
September 19, 2010 | Rating: 4/4
Nick Rogers
The Film Yap…
Plot
The island of Iwo Jima stands between the American military force and the home islands of Japan. Therefore the Imperial Japanese Army is desperate to prevent it from falling into American hands and providing a launching point for an invasion of Japan. General Tadamichi Kuribayashi (Ken Watanabe) is given command of the forces on the island and sets out to prepare for the imminent attack. General Kuribayashi, however, does not favor the rigid traditional approach recommended by his subordinates, and resentment and resistance fester amongst his staff. In the lower echelons, a young soldier, Saigo (Kazunari Ninomiya), a poor baker in civilian life, strives with his friends to survive the harsh regime of the Japanese Army itself, all the while knowing that a fierce battle looms. When the American invasion begins, Kuribayashi and Saigo find strength, honor, courage, and horrors beyond imagination.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
Nothing to add here about Letters from Iwo Jima.
Clint-Eastwood.jpg
