US (2006): Drama/History/War
In 1945, US and Japanese armies met on Iwo Jima. Decades later, several hundred letters are unearthed from that stark island site. The letters give faces and voices to the men who fought there, as well as the extraordinary general who led them.
The Japanes soldiers are sent to Iwo Jima knowing that in all probability they will not come back. Among them are Saigo (Kazunari Ninomiya), a baker who wants only to live to see the face of his newborn daughter; Baron Nishi (Tsuyoshi Ihara), an Olympic equestrian champion known around the world for his skill and his honor; Shimizu (Ryo Kase), a young former military policeman whose idealism has not yet been tested by war; and Lieutenant Ito (Shidou Nakamura), a strict military man who would rather accept suicide than surrender.
Leading the defense is Lt. General Tadamichi Kuribayashi (Ken Watanabe), whose travels in America have revealed to him the hopeless nature of the war but also given him strategic insight into how to take on the vast American armada streaming in from across the Pacific.
Made as a companion piece to his Flags of Our Fathers (also 2006), Clint Eastwood directs this screenplay written by Iris Yamashita. (Warner Bros. - Web site)
4 nominations, 1 Award
·Achievement in Sound Editing 2006: Alan Robert Murray and Bub Asman
·Best Picture of the Year 2006: Clint Eastwood, Steven Spielberg and Robert Lorenz, producers
·Achievement in Directing 2006: Clint Eastwood
·Achievement in Writing (Original Screenplay) 2006: Iris Yamashita (Story by Iris Yamashita and Paul Haggis)