Mark Ofuji Movies
Filmmakers Mitch Anderson and Niall Ferguson explore the potential consequences of what could happen should the leaders of the United States decide to exit the international scene and return to our original roots as a republic - not an empire - in this thought-provoking documentary. How exactly does U.S. foreign policy affect the millions of people around the world that live outside of our country? Only by posing this pressing question can we begin to understand the effects that the decisions made at home have on our global community. At the end of World War I, the U.S. was considered an isolationist nation; today we have bases in over ninety countries. As the population and economic power of the U.S. shrinks, the rest of the world keeps on growing. Intrigued by the though of what could happen should the America decide to withdraw from its foreign bases and focus strictly on domestic issues, producer Anderson and reputed BBC and Chanel4 personality Ferguson embark on an investigative trip across four continents to speak with the very experts who could offer realistic answers to this heady question. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
After bringing the story of the American soldiers who fought in the battle of Iwo Jima to the screen in his film Flags of Our Fathers, Clint Eastwood offers an equally thoughtful portrait of the Japanese forces who held the island for 36 days in this military drama. In 1945, World War II was in its last stages, and U.S. forces were planning to take on the Japanese on a small island known as Iwo Jima. While the island was mostly rock and volcanoes, it was of key strategic value and Japan's leaders saw the island as the final opportunity to prevent an Allied invasion. Lt. General Tadamichi Kuribayashi (Ken Watanabe) was put in charge of the forces on Iwo Jima; Kuribayashi had spent time in the United States and was not eager to take on the American army, but he also understood his opponents in a way his superiors did not, and devised an unusual strategy of digging tunnels and deep foxholes that allowed his troops a tactical advantage over the invading soldiers. While Kuribayashi's strategy alienated some older officers, it impressed Baron Nishi (Tsuyoshi Ihara), the son of a wealthy family who had also studied America firsthand as an athlete at the 1932 Olympics. As Kuribayashi and his men dig in for a battle they are not certain they can win -- and most have been told they will not survive -- their story is told both by watching their actions and through the letters they write home to their loved ones, letters that in many cases would not be delivered until long after they were dead. Among the soldiers manning Japan's last line of defense are Saigo (Kazunari Ninomiya), a baker sent to Iwo Jima only days before his wife was to give birth; Shimizu (Ryo Kase), who was sent to Iwo Jima after washing out in the military police; and Lieutenant Ito (Shidou Nakamura), who has embraced the notion of "Death Before Surrender" with particular ferocity. Filmed in Japanese with a primarily Japanese cast, Letters From Iwo Jima was shot in tandem with Flags of Our Fathers, and the two films were released within two months of one another. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ken Watanabe, Kazunari Ninomiya, (more)
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