Letters from Iwo Jima Movie Cast, Plot and Everything to Know

Dec. 22, 2008

Letters from Iwo Jima

Release Date: Friday, January 12, 2007

Steven Spielberg, Clint Eastwood, Paul Haggis, Ken Watanabe, Robert Lorenz, Ryo Kase, Takashi Yamaguchi, Tsuyoshi Ihara, Yuki Matsuzaki, Kazunari Ninomiya, Shido Nakamura, Iris Yamashita, Nae Yuuki, Nobumasa Sakagami, Hiroshi Watanabe

The story of the Battle of Iwo Jima, which took place in the winter of 1945, from the Japanese perspective.

R Action N/A

4

29% WILL SEE

71% WON'T SEE

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The story of the Battle of Iwo Jima, which took place in the winter of 1945, from the Japanese perspective.

Plot

What's the story about?

Sixty-one years ago, U.S. and Japanese armies met on Iwo Jima. Decades later, several hundred letters are unearthed from that stark island's soil. The letters give faces and voices to the men who fought there, as well as the extraordinary general who led them, Tadamichi Kuribayashi (Ken Watanabe). With little defense other than sheer will and the volcanic rock of the island itself, Gen. Kuribayashi's unprecedented tactics transform what was predicted to be a quick and bloody defeat into nearly 40 days of heroic and resourceful combat.

In an effort to explore an event that continues to resonate with both cultures, Clint Eastwood was haunted by the sense that making only one film, "Flags of Our Fathers", would be telling only half the story. With this unprecedented dual film project, shot back-to-back to be released in sequence, Eastwood seeks to reveal the battle of Iwo Jima--and, by implication, the war in the Pacific--as a clash not only of arms but of cultures.

Action Adventure Drama War

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Top Cast

The lead cast starring in Letters from Iwo Jima.

K
Ken Watanabe
Kensuke’s Kingdom, Inception
K
Kazunari Ninomiya
T
Tsuyoshi Ihara
Yakuza Princess, Ramen Shop
R
Ryo Kase
Restless, Nobody Knows
S
Shido Nakamura
Y
Yuki Matsuzaki
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
H
Hiroshi Watanabe
N
Nobumasa Sakagami
T
Takashi Yamaguchi
Sophie and the Rising Sun
N
Nae Yuuki

Crew Behind the Film

The Letters from Iwo Jima behind-the-scenes crew and production team.

The film's director Clint Eastwood last directed Cry Macho and Richard Jewell.

Director: Clint Eastwood
Screenwriters: Iris Yamashita
Paul Haggis
Producers: Clint Eastwood
Robert Lorenz
Steven Spielberg

Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures
Production Companies

Additional Information

MPA Rating: R Restricted for graphic war violence
Runtime: N/A
Tagline: Not available
Also known as: Lamps Before the Wind
Language: English

All Trailers

Official Letters from Iwo Jima movie trailers and clips.

No trailers available.

Production Details

What we know about the Letters from Iwo Jima movie production.

Key Facts

This is a companion film to Eastwood's Flags of Our Fathers.

Production Updates

Dec 2004

Completed

The film was tagged as Completed.

Release Dates

When was the film released?

Letters from Iwo Jima was released in on Friday, January 12, 2007. There were 8 other movies released on the same date, including Alpha Dog, Stomp the Yard and Pan's Labyrinth.

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