IMDb RATING
7.8/10
172K
YOUR RATING
The story of the battle of Iwo Jima between the United States and Imperial Japan during World War II, as told from the perspective of the Japanese who fought it.The story of the battle of Iwo Jima between the United States and Imperial Japan during World War II, as told from the perspective of the Japanese who fought it.The story of the battle of Iwo Jima between the United States and Imperial Japan during World War II, as told from the perspective of the Japanese who fought it.
- Won 1 Oscar
- 25 wins & 39 nominations total
Shidô Nakamura
- Lieutenant Ito
- (as Shidou Nakamura)
Luke Eberl
- Sam
- (as Lucas Elliot)
Sonny Saito
- Medic Endo
- (as Sonny Seiichi Saito)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaMost of the young cast knew nothing about the incidents on Iwo Jima, as it is not taught in Japanese schools.
- GoofsThe bottle of Johnnie Walker appears to have a screw cap made of aluminum. At that time liquor bottles had a cork stopper.
- Quotes
Baron Nishi: [reading the letter from the mother of Sam, the dead marine] Remember what I said to you: always do what's right because it is right.
- SoundtracksString Quartet No.6, Op. 1-6, Hob. III-6, Mov.2
Composed by Joseph Haydn
At a party where Ken Watanabe participated
Featured review
Over 60 years on, traditional WW2 villains are finally allowed to be human
Not having seen Flags of Our Fathers, I'll be unable to make any comparison to its companion-movie. Even on its own Letter to Iwo Jima could be seen as representing the new tendency to "humanise" what were until recently the traditional WW2 villains from an Anglosaxon point of view. History tends to be written by those on the winning side - hence, we have had decades of inhuman German war machines, cowardly Italians and unspeakably cruel Japanese. Now, over 60 years since WW2, it has become acceptable - nay, the done thing if you have a conscience, to humanise the losers and show even the winners as fallible and even individually despicable (***SPOILER:*** see the American soldier who shoots the two Japanese prisoners who've deliberately given themselves over. ***END OF SPOILER***). Letters to Iwo Jima clearly has its heart in the right place: it wants to be objective, above and beyond anything else. And it is. Japanese soldiers have mothers, adorable young pregnant wives in pretty kimonos and sons they write loving letters to. We empathise with them no less than we have with all those American soldiers in an endless string of war movies. Technically, Letters is a well-made movie. It's also genuinely moving in parts - you do end up caring for most of the main players. For my personal taste, though, it spells things out too much and too often. Still, for something produced by Mr Manipulative Spielberg and co-written by Paul "Crash" Haggis, I was impressed.
- Asa_Nisi_Masa2
- May 2, 2007
- Permalink
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official sites
- Languages
- Also known as
- Red Sun, Black Sand
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $19,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $13,756,082
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $89,097
- Dec 24, 2006
- Gross worldwide
- $68,673,228
- Runtime2 hours 21 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.39 : 1
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