The next two sections “Flags of Our Fathers” and “Letters from Iwo Jima” have selections focused on the respective films, while “War Today” offers a political science perspective. Instead, three rather different essays are presented that leave the reader wondering about the context. There is no mention of the events that led to the Battle of Iwo Jima or anything on the history of the Pacific War. The anthology is divided into four parts: “History,” “Flags of Our Fathers,” “Letters from Iwo Jima,” and “War Today.” “History” is dedicated to providing a historical context but falls short. There is much to be said about the problems with this volume however, instead of focusing on the book ’s drawbacks, this review will examine the few pieces that historians may find interesting and useful. Questions are posed but often left unanswered. The second question, however, is never truly answered by any of the contributors. The films were needed for the sake of the narrative that Eastwood sought to show. Answering why Eastwood produced two films becomes clear quickly. Schubart and Gjelsvik state in their introduction that two questions guided the creation of the anthology: “Why two films?” and “To what use can we put Eastwood’s diptych in thinking about war today?” (p. What the authors and editors seek to accomplish is not always clear and not well thought out. Unfortunately, in their desire to respond the editors and contributors produced an uneven, and perhaps unnecessary, volume. The editors of the anthology, Rikke Schubart and Anne Gjelsvik, note that the “director touched us so deeply with his compassionate portrayal of soldiers, be they American or Japanese. Letters from Iwo Jima marked the first time an American director made an American film entirely in Japanese. Eastwood was the first director to make two films at the same time about the same event in two different languages. ” What compelled the participants of this seminar to collect these papers into an anthology was their view of the uniqueness of Eastwood’s approach and presentation in his two films. $27.99 (e-book), ISBN 978-3-8 $85.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-4-8 $28.00 (paper), ISBN 978-5-5.Įastwood's Iwo Jima: Critical Engagement with Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima is a collection of fourteen papers presented at a one-day seminar, held in Denmark in May 2008, entitled “Visions of War in a New World Order & Clint Eastwood’s Flags of Our Fathers (2006) and Letters from Iwo Jima (2006).

New York: Columbia University Press, 2013.

Eastwood's Iwo Jima: Critical Engagements with Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima.

Letters from iwo jima movie worksheet