Letters From Iwo Jima
9.5/10
I fucking love this movie, probably my favorite war movie after Tae Guk Gi. This movie is a sister to Clint Eastwood's "Flags of Our Fathers".
The movie mentioned was the battle of Iwo Jima through the eyes of the men who put the original flag up on Iwo Jima. You know, this picture
(The current one is much more dramatacized, and they ignored the fact that these guys battled up a fucking hill against impossible odds, only to be sent back down for a bigger flag.)
Regardless, this movie is from the perspective of the Japanese on Iwo Jima. They were sent there on a last minute defense, seeing as Iwo Jima was the island that would allow American bombers to actively bomb all of Japan. You follow an ex-baker named Saigo, who along with 2 other storylines (The General of the island, and another soldier named Shizunu) you experience the battle through their eyes. The sense of desperation and doom is overwhelming, and paired with the gruesome realities of war, this movie is a fucking tearjerker. Watching Americans commit war crimes, the letters of dead soldiers being read, and the fact that every Asian looks like my cousin, I cried like a good 30 minutes throughout this movie. I couldn't help but see myself being Saigo, watching my best friends die right before my eyes.