Clint Eastwood Makes Good Movies

The impressive films directed by Clint Eastwood, “Flags of Our Fathers” and “Letters from Iwo Jima”, expose the often unheard of parts of the Pacific offensive during World War II. Each film tells the story from the point of view of either the Americans or the Japanese as they fight each other during the Battle of Iwo Jima.

Helmed by Clint Eastwood, the stories are unabashedly honest from both sides. History tells us that Americans are the good guys and the Japanese are the bad guys, but these movies showcase that's not the case. This has been done before, and the concept is not new, but these movies do a really good job of showing the human side of war.

In “Letters to Iwo Jima”, the main protagonist Saigo just wants to get home safely to his family and his journey was harrowing. It was frustrating that the American soldiers and Japanese officers made his efforts next to impossible. The Americans were bent on decimating "the enemy," while the beaten Japanese field officers ordered their men to kill themselves rather than be "dishonored" by being caught.

In “Flags of Our Fathers”, American soldiers violated human rights because it was convenient for them. The traditional view from World War II is that the Americans are good guys, but they committed war crimes just as the “bad guys” did as well. Now, the severity of war crimes was different, but mistreatment is mistreatment. America did not do horrific "medical research" on our enemies, but cruel treatment was common on both sides. This honest look at this issue was well executed by Eastwood.

Although a difficult pair of movies to watch, they show the need for the humane treatment of people during war. It seemed as if Eastwood flipped stereotypes on their head- the bad guys were the Americans and the good guys were the Japanese. Hats off to him for boldly exploring alternation views to a historically and popularly held conception of how World War II really was!