NOW ON DVD

LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA

Rated R

Ken Watanabe, Kazunari Ninomiya, Tsuyoshi Ihara, Rho Kase

Brian’s Rating       

Last year, a remarkable set of circumstances unfolded that allowed the release of Flags of Our Fathers and Letters From Iwo Jima in the same season.

The opportunity to see a war story told, quite literally, from both sides of the battle lines is a rare treat, and to have them both done so well is nothing short of amazing.

Now that they are both available on DVD, you can experience them together, which you couldn’t do in theatres. I enjoyed Flags of Our Fathers, but Letters From Iwo Jima is just an incredible piece of work.

Even those with a casual understanding of this difficult time in the world’s history will find it satisfying.

Two words of warning: The dialogue is played almost entirely in Japanese with subtitles. In addition, there are scenes of extreme violence that may be hard for some to watch.

But what Clint Eastwood has created in Letters From Iwo Jima should not be missed.