Letters from Iwo Jima!!!!

[coco]

憲兵(けんぺい) and 千人針(せんにんばり)
are also important words of this movie.
--
edit：added 千人針.

[ss]

“Kempeitai” – reminds me of my granny’s sad story about the Eurasians serving in the Volunteer Corps were imprisoned for their part in the war. Eurasian civilians regarded with suspicion were also rounded up for interrogation by the Kempaitai.

They pushed the very limits of human endurance.

The infamous water torture method involved the victim being tied by the barbed wire on his back with cloth placed over his nose and mouth. Water was poured on the cloth and went down his throat until his stomach was completely bloated.

The guards would then jump on his stomach, and the water was forced out through his throat, eye, ears and nose, mixed with blood.

[inuinu]

I went to see this movie recently.
A lot of soldiers have different feelings.
The war is that either is not one-sidedly bad.
Evil is a war itself.
This is what I learnt from this movie.

This might be the most general impression.
Sorry when not serving as a reference.

[Son of Sparda]

I felt the same way, inuinu. Violence is evil and rarely justified. I recommend this movie btw, it was very good. Clint Eastwood is a terrific director. I admired a lot of his work in this movie.

This is slightly off-topic, but this reminds me of a taxi ride I had recently. The man with me was in his 60s and he was a Christian. He said that "man is evil" and that Christianity makes us good. Then I asked him, "Do you think you'd be a bad person if you weren't Christian?" and he said "absolutely." I think the guy just doesn't think for himself and is practically a trained dolphin, though I think of dolphins more highly than I do him.

[phreadom]

Son of Sparda wrote:
I felt the same way, inuinu. Violence is evil and rarely justified. I recommend this movie btw, it was very good. Clint Eastwood is a terrific director. I admired a lot of his work in this movie.

This is slightly off-topic, but this reminds me of a taxi ride I had recently. The man with me was in his 60s and he was a Christian. He said that "man is evil" and that Christianity makes us good. Then I asked him, "Do you think you'd be a bad person if you weren't Christian?" and he said "absolutely." I think the guy just doesn't think for himself and is practically a trained dolphin, though I think of dolphins more highly than I do him.

I often get asked questions like that. (for fear of being accused of a thread hijacking, I'll keep this brief) People ask me where a person can get their morality if not from God. They claim that anyone who isn't a Christian, or at least religious in that vein, cannot be a good and moral person. Frustrating.

To get us back on track, I saw "Flags of Our Fathers" recently and liked it... so I've been really curious about "Letters From Iwo Jima"... but I haven't seen it anywhere around here. This is definitely a movie I'll be seeing as soon as I get a chance.

(Flags of Our Fathers was also interesting to me because I work for a tribal government here in Michigan and it was a little disturbing to see how recently there was still serious prejudice against the native americans.

[Kdar]

Son of Sparda wrote:
I felt the same way, inuinu. Violence is evil and rarely justified. I recommend this movie btw, it was very good. Clint Eastwood is a terrific director. I admired a lot of his work in this movie.

This is slightly off-topic, but this reminds me of a taxi ride I had recently. The man with me was in his 60s and he was a Christian. He said that "man is evil" and that Christianity makes us good. Then I asked him, "Do you think you'd be a bad person if you weren't Christian?" and he said "absolutely." I think the guy just doesn't think for himself and is practically a trained dolphin, though I think of dolphins more highly than I do him.

Was it some where in South of USA?
There a lot of those "trained dolphins" in here.....

But, about the movie.
I watched "the Flag of Our Fathers" and loved it.

I sure that "Letters from Iwo Jima" will be great movie also.

I really like and appreciate how Eastwood make the movie looking at both sides.. The American front and Japanese front.

[tanuki]

I finally saw the movie yesterday.

What I liked the most was how they showed the different attitudes about the war: Dying for your country or surviving for your family? And that they also showed this with people in different military ranks. It was also cool how they showed that both Japanese and Americans, although enemies (in this war, I mean, of course) and of different nationalities/ways of thought, are in the end the same: humans (the letter from the mother of the American soldier was moving).

I had seen Flags of our Fathers already and I think both films are very very well done. And together they are even nicer than on their own.

[chikara]

I too only saw this movie a few days ago (28 Feb) as it has just been released in this country. I agree with tanuki-san's comments.

This movie certainly highlighted the futility of war.

[Kidaver]

I saw the trailers a few weeks ago and they looked pretty awesome!

I'm guessing it is out in Britain now? Sorry I havn't had the internet for a while and havn't seen any trailers on the TV etc

Cheers

[Riku1992]

Who's your favorite ninja!!!

[richvh]

There are other threads about Naruto; don't hijack this one.

[coco]

Geographical Survey Institute of Japan has just announced renaming of 硫黄島.
硫黄島 is known as いおうじま, but they renamed it いおうとう. The maps that have the new name いおうとう will be published in September.

http://www.jiji.com/jc/c?g=soc_30&k=2007061800581

[AJBryant]

I love how people talk about the "futility" of war -- but WWII liberated two continents, destroyed some major dictatorships, and stopped a genocide. That's hardly an example of futility.

Sheesh.

Tony

[Kashin]

Agreed, Toni-san. People tend to put all their focus on the horrible aspects of war, and ignore the good things that come out of it during and in the end. That's all I will say about that, lest I get banned. :p

I LOVED Letters From Iwo Jima. It was difficult to watch at times, but I thought it was necessary to show the reality of war, and then the good that can come out of it. Flags of Our Fathers...I didn't like it so much. It was far more depressing and less redemptive than Letters. They focused way to much on the exploitation of the flag-raisers, and ignored the big picture of what taking Iwo Jima did for the Allied war effort.
Integrating the two movies into each other was cinematic genius on Mr. Eastwood's part.