Letters From Iwo Jima
In 2006, Clint Eastwood directed two World War II films about the battle of Iwo Jima. “Flags of Our Fathers,” told from an American perspective, didn’t make much of a cultural impact. But “Letters From Iwo Jima,” told from the Japanese perspective, surprised and affected audiences around the world. Eastwood has a reputation for jingoistic, American masculinity. But “Letters From Iwo Jima” shows a surprising amount of empathy and melancholy in its difficult depiction of the so-called “enemy.”