Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by DWPC (A) on June 18, 2007 at 10:57:40

I thought LFIJ was much better than "Flags of Our Fathers", but superficial revisionism undercut its quality as a film. Eastwood had a desire to portray the humanity of the ordinary soldier, whether Japanese or American. Were Japanese soldiers in WWII fanatics or victims? Clint seems to lean toward victimhood. But the well-documented retail barbarity of "ordinary" Japanese soldiers, especially in China and the Phillipines is in clear conflict with the sympathetic "universal soldier" notion. The background details of the story line do, though, align with the more negative Japanese record if considered more carefully, but its surface texture gives a charitable impression of the Japanese grunt.

Historical revision aside, its generally a well-acted, well-filmed movie. I thought Watanabe's General Kuribayashi was very inconsistent. Character complexity and subtitles don't mix. The complexity of a huge battle involving tens of thousands was, except for a few cartoonish animated scenes of the invasion, lost. Mechanically, the movie is too long, and the use of subdued colors over-done.