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War Is Hell (Again)

I watched and was underwhelmed by Clint Eastwood's latest film, Letters from Iwo Jima.

It's caused me to wonder if the war film has reached a certain end point as a genre and if -- and how -- it might continue to have meaning.

As you know, Eastwood's film follows the Japanese defense of the island of Iwo Jima. They are outnumbered by American forces and face a certain defeat. Nevertheless, they refuse to surrender and fight until every last man is dead. Blind obedience and the stupidity of war result is a fantastic loss of human life. It is made more ironic (and sad) by the fact that General Tadamichi Kuribayashi (Ken Wanatabe) is quite sympathetic toward Americans. But orders being orders, war is war.

My problem with Eastwood's film is that, despite being well-crafted, it serves no real purpose. The script contains no surprises or discoveries. The film delivers points; ones that its audience (fed on Post-Vietnam war movies) has already accepted.

A sampling:

1. The enemy is really no different from you!
2. War is violent. (Wounds are gross.)
3. War causes a suspension in morality. People do bad things they wouldn't normally do.
4. Blind obedience makes fools of us all.

The more I think about it, Letters from Iwo Jima isn't concerned about war at all. Rather, its focus is on what opinion we should have regarding war. It is a self-involved commentary rather than a meditation on reality, on how complicated things can be.

War as experienced in Letters from Iwo Jima is more concerned with how spectators will feel about war, rather than about war itself as a tangible thing, a necessary and, I'd say, intrinsic part of human life.

Perhaps the film can get away with this treatment because it deals with World War II. (This is a conflict that, for many, has become as antiquated as the Revolutionary War.)

In any case, the film asks: "How do you feel about war?" It provides the obvious and correct answer. (How are you supposed to feel while being shot at, people dying, maybe you next?)

"It is bad. Very bad."

* * *

In the next episode, I will deal with the war film in general, its future, and how (and if) it can possibly relate to what war means in our own time. Stay tuned!

February 8, 2007