214 LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA [JAPAnese: IŌJIMA KARA NO TEGAMI]
LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA [JAPANESE: IŌJIMA
KARA NO TEGAMI] (2006)
Synopsis
Letters from Iwo Jima is a Japanese- American war film directed and co- produced
by Clint Eastwood, starring Ken Watanabe and Kazunari Ninomiya. The compan-
ion piece to Eastwood’s Flags of Our Fathers, this film depicts the World War II
Battle of Iwo Jima from the Japa nese perspective and is almost entirely in Japa-
nese, although it was produced by American companies DreamWorks, Malpaso
Productions, and Amblin Entertainment.Background
A tiny Pacific island about 650 miles due south of Japan, Iwo Jima would have
remained inconspicuous except that the World War II battle over its control
(19 February–26 March 1945) turned out to be one of history’s most savage battles.
Before emerging victorious, the U.S. Marine Corps suffered 26,038 casualties (6,821
killed; 19,217 wounded) among some 70,000 soldiers deployed, whereas only 1,083
of the island’s 22,786 Japa nese defenders survived to be captured: a fatality rate of
95 percent. Honored cinematically by two Hollywood docudramas— Sands of Iwo
Jima (1949) and The Outsider (1961)— the Battle of Iwo Jima received renewed atten-
tion with Clint Eastwood’s Flags of Our Fathers (2006). Eastwood’s original inten-
tion was to tell both the American and Japa nese sides of the story, but as production
developed, it became obvious that there was simply too much disparate material
for one film so Eastwood deci ded to split it into two films. The screenplay for Let-
ters, written by Paul Haggis and Iris Yamashita, was based on two sources: letters
left behind by Iwo Jima’s Japa nese garrison commander, General Tadamichi Kurib-
ayashi (1890–1945), and Kumiko Kakehashi’s So Sad to Fall in Battle: An Account of
War, also based on Gen. Kuribayashi’s letters. Letters from Iwo Jima was shot right
after Flags, and almost entirely in Japa nese, despite the fact that it was produced
by American film companies, as mentioned. Except for Ken Watanabe, the Japa-
nese cast members were selected through auditions in Japan.Production
Originally entitled “Red Sun, Black Sand” and bud geted at $19 million, Letters from
Iwo Jima was shot over a 32- day period in the spring of 2006. Whereas Eastwood
shot the Iwo Jima beach landing scenes for Flags in Iceland (which features black
volcanic sand like Iwo Jima’s), he shot the Iwo Jima beach scenes for Letters at Leo
Carrillo State Beach in Malibu and had black sand trucked in from Pisgah Vol-
cano, a volcanic cinder cone 321 feet high and 1,600 feet across in the Mojave
Desert, about 30 miles from Barstow, California, a site also used for filming. The
scenes featuring Japanese- dug caves and tunnels on Iwo Jima were actually shot
in and around an old silver mine at Calico Ghost Town in Barstow. A flashback
scene that shows Gen. Kuribayashi receiving a gift of a Colt .45 from an American
friend at a farewell banquet at what is supposed to be the Fort Bliss Country Club
near El Paso, Texas, was actually shot at the club house at the Griffith Park Golf