Letters from Iwo Jima (***)

Many have been saying that Clint Eastwood's latest picture is a "masterpiece." And while it certainly isn't that, it is a very good movie that deserves the praise it's been getting. Letters from Iwo Jima tackles the Japanese perspective of the Battle of Iwo Jima and does so with greater clarity, drama, and richness than Clint's companion piece, Flags of Our Fathers. Flags was a sappy, thematically repetitive film, whereas Letters is non-gimmicky and shows us a perspective of war we've never seen before. The Japanese soldiers fighting in Letters are really no different than the American soldiers depicted in so many war films. Letters is a dark film and it's very violent at times, but I think it ultimately says more about humanity and war itself than so many other war pictures that have come before it.