Letters from Iwo Jima

I grew up in the era of the 1940's American war movie. As I slipped the DVD into the player, I had a whole set of expectations, but these Japanese soldiers were people. They were not short in stature or buck toothed. Hollywood had finally produced a war movie in which the Japanese were shown as fully human rather than as evil caricatures wearing thick glasses. Later when the credits rolled past, I was surprised that it had been produced by Clint Eastwood and Steven Spielberg. Well done, gentlemen! Letters from Iwo Jima shows that the American war movie has finally grown up.