Telling a tale, his way
V. GANGADHAR
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Clint Eastwood is once again in the Oscar race and this time for `Letters from Iwo Jima,' on a theme close to his heart.
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THE JAPANESE POINT OF VIEW: Letters From Iwo Jima.
No Hollywood career was complete, it seemed, without doing a Western.
Even an `intense' actor such as Marlon Brando acted in and directed `One Eyed Jack,' an expensive Western, while John Wayne was the eternal cowboy. Of course, for great actors such as Gregory Peck, Clark Gable, Gary Cooper and Tyronne Power, the Western provided the stamp of versatility.
But no one, who had begun with a cowboy film, had such a remarkable career as Clint Eastwood. His `Spaghetti Westerns' of the 1970s such as `A Fistful of Dollars' made huge profits.
The cowboy
He was the cowboy, with brooding looks, smoking a cheroot and shooting fast and straight, who later graduated to the tough cop role immortalised by `Dirty Harry.'
Today, Eastwood is a legend, as an actor and more so as a director, and could bag the Best Director Oscar for his `Letters from Iwo Jima,' a film based on patriotism as exhibited in one of the bloodiest battles of World War II.
At 76, Eastwood has the same lean looks though the small, tight mouth is more relaxed these days. A leading man of 50 films and director of 30, including memorable hits such as `Mystic River,' and `Million Dollar Baby,' he takes his legend status lightly.
The year 2006 was important for him as he directed `Flags of Our Fathers' and `Letters from Iwo Jima,' both critically acclaimed. They are important because the subjects, war and patriotism, are close to his heart.
Son of a vagrant steel worker, Eastwood was only 14 when he read about the heroic exploits of Navy Corpsman, John `Doc' Bradley and five other Marines who hoisted the US flag in the thick of the Iwo Jima battle where 6,000 American troops and 21,000 Japanese died. Three of those heroes survived the battle. The hoisting of the flag was filmed and became an immortal event.
Bradley and the other two survivors were used by the Army to sell war bonds and contribute to the war effort. After the war, Bradley's mates died in poverty and obscurity. Their story was chronicled in a 2000 best seller "Flags of Our Fathers."
Eastwood, who was keen to film the book, found that movie rights had been bought by Steven Spielberg's Dream Works but readily accepted a 2003 offer to direct it. He persuaded Paul Haggis, who had done the script of `Million Dollar Baby', to work with him. Haggis suggested they highlight the investigations of `Doc' Bradley's son into his father's experiences at Iwo Jima.
Director Clint Eastwood
"My approach was three-pronged," Eastwood explained. "The battle scenes, the war-bond tour and a fictional account of Bradley searching for his two mates."
While the Japanese were ready to have the film shot on their soil, the director found they did flinch at the mention of Iwo Jima as it evoked bitter memories. So he finally settled for Iceland, which had the same kind of volcanic sands and vast emptiness of the original island.
Eager to present the Japanese point of view, along with `Flags of our Fathers,' Eastwood also planned `Letters from Iwo Jima.'
The Japanese soldiers on the island knew they would not come out of the war alive, but still kept in touch with their families through letters, and this formed the theme of the second film.
Eastwood's casting was interesting. He believed that the Japanese characters offered more of a challenge. For instance, Tadamichi Kuribayashi, commanding officer at Iwo Jima, had studied at Harvard, spent time in the U.S. and provided the best defence of an island during the war. Japanese actor Ken Watanabe plays this key role.
Baron Takechi Nish, commander of the Armoured Corps, was a member of the Japanese equestrian team at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics. Top actor Tsuyoshi Ihara plays Nish.
Based on letters
Much of the film's story is based on the contents of the letters these men wrote to their families. They urged their sons to study hard and wives to fix the roofs of their homes and to complete other domestic chores. The letters clearly indicated that the men were certain they would not return home alive.
`Letters' was shot immediately after `Flags,' but in Iwo Jima. The American presence was hardly felt in the former and likewise, the Japanese were seldom seen in `Flags'. Eastwood, enjoying a well earned rest after directing both movies, explained, "I did it my way, telling a story to the people. Perhaps, I was influenced by Kurosawa."
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