Wrong, Clint! It is ALL "about winning and losing"!
And, because we won, instead of them, you are free to think such drivel and produce accordingly.
Big time loss of respect here...
It is too easy sixty years later to forget the ferocity of the Japanese in war. Yes, do give the Japanese soldiers credit for their stand. But remember that their cause was as evil as that of the SS troopers, so many of whom fought bravely and well.
I could be wrong, but I understood Clint's statement to mean the movie is not about winning or losing, but mostly about the interrupted lives of young people.
Maybe, (and I'm giving Eastwood the benefit of the doubt, considering political constraints on him) what he meant had to do with the fact that the individual grunt, regardless of whatever army he fought in, does the bleeding and dying. There is respect among warriors in peacetime, even former adversaries for this reason.
If one wants to focus on the brutality of the Japanese troops and officers during the war, there are ample opportunities, historically, especially from Manchuria to Burma, and in the prison camps.
What happened between the Marines and the Japanese during the invasion of the island was warfare, plain and brutal, no matter who you were.
It's not about winning or losing,
OH REALLY ? Shows what a moron he has become. I could give a rats a$$ what the Japs were feeling or going through during that battle. Little be little we are turning into a nation of wimps.
You are so right on this.
Another sad case of Hollywood-Amnesia.