CLINT EASTWOOD’S Letters from Iwo Jima – Cinematic Wabi Sabi

At Iwo Jima, more than 20,000 Japanese troops perished on the black sand. This is their story.

Yesterday we met and talked with Clint Eastwood at a screening of his masterpiece, Letters from Iwo Jima, a film about the famous Pacific struggle told from the Japanese soldiers’ point of view. The movie is the companion to Eastwood’s Flags of Our Fathers, created from the American point of view.

Movie-making and War-making

As we watched the film and listened to Eastwood, we were struck with the realization that Eastwood makes a powerful statement about the parallels between movie-making and war-making. For example, in one scene General Tadamichi Kuribayashi (played by award-winning and decorated actor Ken Watanabe) goes down to the beach and orders the soldier with him to run. The soldier is startled and confused. “RUN! RUN! Like you are an American!! Which way would you go?” Then Kuribayashi uses his walking stick to track the soldier and pretends to “shoot” after him.

The General as Auteur

What is remarkable about this scene is that Kuribayashi is as much a metaphorical filmmaker here as he is a General. Just like Eastwood, he must do the seemingly impossible —step into the shoes of the “enemy,” imagine how that “other” must feel, what their motivations must be. He must ask those subservient to him to do the same. Like Eastwood he must fabricate a scene from nothingness, using only his imagination— the blank open space of the ocean sky his soundstage. Kuribayashi uses his walking stick as a prop, knowing that, in days, the rehearsal will be over and (when the movie film cameras are shooting) he and his men will be shooting the real thing. In war-making and film-making, there are meticulous planning sessions and intricate strategies, but the veterans know that many elements are out of even the auteur’s control. There will be casualties on the cutting room floor.

Pitching Your Story – Selling Your War

“Telling soliders they are going to an island, and they are not going to come back alive—I was very interested by this idea. You’d have a rough time selling that to our armed forces in America today, or in any country,” said Clint Eastwood. Indeed a Commander-in-Chief has to “sell” a war to his cabinet and ultimately to the public, just as the filmmaker has to “sell” an unlikely story to his investors and finally to his audience at large. Both will have big budgets and no guarantee of success.

Disciplined Soldiers – Disciplined Actors

The all Japanese cast was “very discliplined” according to Clint Eastwood. There were few re-takes due to actors’ mistakes. The intense preparation and commitment of the actors is palpable in the film. They approach the collaborative work of art that is Letters from Iwo Jima as if it is “life or death.” Indeed the discipline, bravery and honor of the soldiers is beautifully portrayed by Eastwood.

East West Eastwood

Clint Eastwood has been bridging East and West for a long time. As he put it Fistful of Dollars was a ripoff of Akira Kurosawa’s Yojimbo. (Just as that beloved Silicon Valley film, STAR WARS takes its direct cues from Kurosawa’s The Hidden Fortress). The important takeaway is that Eastwood has been reflecting on the connections between East and West for decades. Letters from Iwo Jima is a movie that should not be missed. Rent it, buy it, see it with a group of friends. The images captured with Eastwood’s muted desaturated palette will remain with you long after the credits roll. “I didn’t want vibrant Technicolor for this film like Dorothy and Toto on the yellowbrick road,” he said. Instead the soft sepias, subtle colors straining to come through are suffused with the pain and poignancy of memory itself. True cinematic wabi-sabi. ValleyZen gives it a rare FIVE CRANES.