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520愛的鼓勵 11訂閱站台

來自硫磺島的信 (克林伊斯威特，2006)

硫磺島之戰，對獲勝的美軍是個重要的里程碑，對落敗的日軍卻是個開始衰退的起點，這段歷史從今天看來，總會被認為是侵略國日本自取其辱的報應，但一疊兩年前才自島上挖掘出的信件，揭示了日軍被視為反派的另一面。

赴美求學的粟林將軍臨危受命成為硫磺島之戰的總指揮官，他寬待部屬、人盡其用的美式作風使其他嚴守軍國主義的將領心生抗意，成為導致失敗的源頭。粟林的行事方式證明在日軍中也有令人敬佩的堅毅和敦厚，即使遭到國家的遺棄，仍毫不畏懼地奮戰到最後一刻。

身不由己的西鄉是個對戰爭心生厭惡的小兵，他唯一能做的事就是不斷服從，即使已有無法回家的自覺，心中還是存著一絲見到妻女的希望。西鄉是呈現日軍人性的代表，從彼此猜忌到相知相惜，每個人都有令人同情的故事，唯一不同的是西鄉在強烈的求生意志下找到除了服從之外的出路。

克林伊斯威特以日軍觀點再度呈現硫磺島一戰中不為人知的另一面，不帶任何批評地忠實敘述當時情勢，日軍有愚守軍國主義的自殺行徑，也對美軍伸出援手的民胞物與；美軍雖代表正義，卻也有無情對待戰犯的邪惡，這是戰爭片難得的客觀立場。

國家和個人主義的衝突是本片探討的重點，口口聲聲說著愛國的將領貪生怕死，思鄉情切的士兵卻甘願從命自盡。在粟林和西鄉的信中對兒子和妻子的期盼與思念，為註定失敗的日軍蒙上一層令人同情的色彩，也再度突顯戰爭的殘酷，西鄉只在粟林身上找到對國家的認同，雖無法避免即將到來的命運，埋藏這些信件是他唯一可證明彼此存在的痕跡。

Letters from Iwo Jima (Clint Eastwood, 2006)

The battle of Iwo Jima, it’s a important milestone to the winning U.S. army, but it’s a start of corruption to defeating Japanese. To see this history today, it is always taken as karma to the invasion empire Japan which brought disgrace on its own head. But a pile of letters dig up from the island just two years ago uncovered the other side of Japanese army from being taken as villains.

Studying abroad in the states, General Kuribayashi was signed to serve as a overall director of the Iwo Jima battle. His American style of leniency and making each soldier counts makes other leaders who obey the militarism strictly want to against him, and it became the source of failure. The way Kuribayashi did things proves that there was also respectable backbone and good nature in Japanese. Although abandoned by his own country, he still fought to the last second without any fear.

Saigo who had no command over himself was a little soldier hates the war with his gut. The only thing he could do was to keep obey. Although having the self-conscious of unable to go home, He still kept a slight hope of seeing his wife and daughter. Saigo represents the humanity of the Japanese soldiers, they act from envious to cherish each other, everyone had a sympathetic story. The only difference was Saigo found a way out besides obey under the strong will of surviving.

Clint Eastwood presents the other unknowing perspective of Iwo Jima battle through the vision of Japanese army, describes what happened faithfully without any judgment. Japanese had a foolish act of committing suicide to obey the militarism but also gave their hand to the enemy. Although Americans represented the justice, they also had the evil of treating convicts cruelly. This is an objective perspective that hardly sees in a war movie.

The conflict of nationalism and individualism is the point of this film. The leader who spoke patriotism was afraid of death, but the soldiers who missed their hometown were willing to obey and sacrificed themselves. The expectations and yearnings for their son and wife in Kuribayashi’s and Saigo’s letters cover a sympathetic color on the Japanese destined to fail and once again emphasize the cruelty of war. Saigo only found his recognition to his own country on Kuribayashi, although he couldn’t avoid the fate that was coming along, to bury these letters was to only way he could prove the trace of their existence.