You got that right. The Japanese were called "Japs" in WWII for a reason. Bataan, Nanking, Shanghai...
Posted on 05/27/2006 7:18:26 PM PDT by Pokey78
Two new movies based on a bloody 1945 battle are stirring up memories and forcing both sides to re-examine their history
More than 60 years after it became one of the bloodiest battlefields of the Second World War, Iwo Jima's tragic history retains the power to overwhelm. As his plane prepared to land on the isolated Japanese island last month, the actor Ken Watanabe found he could not hold back the tears. Accompanying Watanabe, who shot to stardom playing a feudal warlord opposite Tom Cruise in The Last Samurai, was another hard man of Hollywood whose time on Iwo Jima would lead to something of a professional epiphany.
When Clint Eastwood's two films about Iwo Jima, one of the darkest periods of the Pacific War, reach cinemas this year, audiences could be excused for forgetting the man behind them was once the trigger-happy Dirty Harry.
The 75-year-old director has promised Flags Of Our Fathers and Red Sun, Black Sand will attempt to show for the first time the suffering of both sides during 36 days of fighting in early 1945 that turned the island into a flattened wasteland.
(Excerpt) Read more at observer.guardian.co.uk ...
That's not quite correct. The event was real, and several of the men in it died later in the fighting on Iwo Jima. What it is not is a photo of the first flag raising on Mt. Suribachi. A smaller flag was raised first, but it could not be easily seen from the beaches or elsewhere on the Island. Thus the second larger flag was ordered to be raised. There was also a thing about the Secretary of the Navy wanting the original flag as a souvenir, but before that could happen, the order to replace the flag, and secure the original for the battalion, was issued.
This fellow was.
They certainly are... I used to work for him... have been in his home on many occasions.
He is nothing like the roles he played in the movies as Dirty Harry, the fist fighters, or the westerns (except maybe the drinking)...
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Sandra Locke claims Eastwood convinced her to have abortions when they were living together around 1980.
I would not put much credibility in anything Sandra says, she is a nasty, gold-digging b*tch. Clint is actually a really nice guy, but very misguided.
He has been greatly influenced by his latest gold-digging young wife, Dina Ruiz, who is a flaming leftist, television news anchor and hostess of the new Candid Camera series.
The best girl he had was Frances Fisher. I held the infant Francesca in my arms and will never forget those big blue eyes. Frances (not her real name) is a real class act. It is my understanding she left him... good for her...
True. A friend's wife's father was at the first, small flag ceremony. He's the fellow in the baseball style hat..
Eastwood was just over here in Japan promoting the film . I saw him on TV . He's not out to be historically accurate ; he is out to make millions . If the film were to portray the Japanese to be evil the Japanese wouldn't go see it and HE would lost his arse over here . Heck - even the flick Pearl Harbor was butchered so that Japanese wouldn't be too offended . It pisses me off , but Hollywood doesn't give a rat's arse about anything but moola and PC .
I had an uncle who fought on Iwo(Marine Sgt).One of the toughest men I have ever known--he died last year never having spoken about what he endured on that island.
It was not six soldiers that raised the flag on Iwo Jima. It was five Marines and one Sailor!
What a load of crap! Jingoism? Gee, it was only made 4 years after the war ended for crying out loud.
Just as it was for Watanabe. 'As we went through this film, we realised that until now we haven't really looked at Japan's past. We kind of looked away from it,' he said. 'But we have to look at it and accept the fact that this is what our fathers and grandfathers have done. Accepting the reality is the first step.'
Ken seems to get it, maybe.
Japan * ping * (kono risuto ni hairitai ka detai wo shirasete kudasai : let me know if you want on or off this list)
You got that right. The Japanese were called "Japs" in WWII for a reason. Bataan, Nanking, Shanghai...
What you may be overlooking is that what the Japs went through on Iwo has the makings of a brilliant movie.
Many met their deaths trapped in caves that were a true hell on Earth. If I recall correctly, "Iwo Jima" translates to something like "Sulfer Island" - cause it stinks like sulfer. Think about it; Black Sand, Stinks of Sulfer, trapped to die in hot steamy caves. A major bloodbath.
It's an amazing story.
Yep . The Japanese is actually IO JIMA , IO meaning sulfur and JIMA ( or Shima ) meaning Island .
That was the first thought I had when I read what Clint was doing with two movies. Another Munich.
The japanese actions on Iwo Jima was nothing more than 10's of thousands of soliders on the ground throwing their lives away when they had already lost the war.
Clint has spent too much effort trying to win an best picture oscar with every movie he does these days. He's become a whore for hollyweird. Making movies that please enough of the general audience to win awards. A month ago I was reading who they are saying this movie will be a easy nominee for the 2007 oscars for best picture. Almost nobody has even seen any clips of it.
We killed 1.2 million Philipinnes after the Spanish-American War.
I've read that when the first flag was raised, it was early in the attack on the island. Once they had cleared the top of that mountain, the soliders were ordered to go put a flag on the top of that mountain. When they did, there was still many japanese with artilary within firing range, and they went absolutely nuts when they saw the american flag go up. The moutain started getting pounded by the Japanese from every direction.
It was later, once the area was more secure and the top of the mountain was out of enemy firing range, that the second flag raising took place with film cameras rolling. I saw a pretty detailed account of this on the history channel.
I don't think the fact that the more famous of the pictures is the second raising. It doesn't take away at all what happened. Only idiots would consider it "controversial" since their is visual evidence of both flag raisings. Those that do have an agenda to bash and they can go take a long walk off a short pier.
Correct!
*Sigh*... All Eastwood's movie is going to accomplish is to somehow rekindle Japan's pride in its military past and lend support to its already strong sense of victimization. But that's intentional and always the plan in good old Hollywood: Give aid and comfort to our past and present enemies and tear down America as much as possible.
got that right
Sounds like this might be an eye opener to today's Japanese...who may have scant knowledge of what really was perpetrated by their Emperor and barbaric leaders.
This rewriting of history has to stop. Despite what feelgood multiculturalists will tell you, there are absolutes, as in good and evil, right and wrong. Pearl Harbor and 9/11 didn't happen by accident, and Iran isn't working night and day to get nukes just for fun. (There must be something in the water in California.)
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