Movies! Movies! Movies! (Non-Japanese)

Tu_triky wrote:

I read the novel AND viewed the film back in the day during my high school years... both are powerful expositions about the tragedy of war.

hahaha I also read and saw the film in high school.
Both were really interesting i think. One of the very few good books I read during high school :applaud:

K.T.Tran wrote:


hahaha I also read and saw the film in high school.
Both were really interesting i think. One of the very few good books I read during high school :applaud:

right on, young buck :) they both present visceral accounts of war...and if you anaylze the warfare of the first World War you will notice that it's savagery was exceptional...given the employment of modern military technology....for the first time. (i.e. chemical weapons, machine guns and modern artillery)

Tu_triky wrote:

the depiction of violence is gruesome to be sure...go on an empty stomach.....

I've seen a couple of war movies like Saving Private Ryan, so somehow I know what to expect in movies like this. ;) And after seeing the movie-like documentary of Hiroshima where you see people who survived in the bombing but died shortly after their body disintegrate (Melting skin and other body parts where falling apart, probably due to the radiation of the atomic bomb. There was a scene showing a man, walking in the disastrous street whose fingers where dropping as if it was a clay without bones to support it :sweat: ), I already learned a lesson not to eat while watching war movies (or even some movie-like documentaries).

Saito_Hajime

I didn't bring up "All Quiet On The Western Front" because it's an accurate depiction of war.

There are all sorts of war movies that work hard to be scary, or gross, or shocking, or just as accurate as a movie can be.

I mentioned "All Quiet..." because it did what I think they are trying to do with "Letters From Iwo Jima". That is to make "The Enemy" into human beings.

One of the first and most important things a government, and its army does when it decides to go to war with another country is to dehumanize The Enemy.

It's a necessary step if you want large numbers of your young people (soldiers) to go out and kill people, even at the risk of being killed themselves.

They (The Enemy) are monsters... They are bullies... They are baby eaters... They are Mother rapers... They drink human blood... they... are not human.

There's a whole thread here at JDorama where people talk about how insulting it is to call Japanese people Japs. Well... truth to tell, "Japs" was probably the least offensive thing American's called the Japanese during WWII. The one thing they were never called was Human. They stopped being people.

And Germans? Well, they were the Hun, Square Heads, Block heads, Krauts, Nazis... not people. Not human beings. Never human beings.

Governments, (all governments) and their armys work hard to make sure that The Enemy is the dark, shadowy figure that spears infants with pitch forks, and gets all wet and wiggly over the prospect of murdering innocents.

With "All Quiet...", Remarque put a human face on a German soldier for the first time in more than 10 years for the English speaking world.

I think that's what they want to do with "Letters From Iwo Jima". Put a human face on the Japanese soldiers.

Geezer wrote:Saito_Hajime

I didn't bring up "All Quiet On The Western Front" because it's an accurate depiction of war.

There are all sorts of war movies that work hard to be scary, or gross, or shocking, or just as accurate as a movie can be.

I mentioned "All Quiet..." because it did what I think they are trying to do with "Letters From Iwo Jima". That is to make "The Enemy" into human beings.

One of the first and most important things a government, and its army does when it decides to go to war with another country is to dehumanize The Enemy.

It's a necessary step if you want large numbers of your young people (soldiers) to go out and kill people, even at the risk of being killed themselves.

They (The Enemy) are monsters... They are bullies... They are baby eaters... They are Mother rapers... They drink human blood... they... are not human.

There's a whole thread here at JDorama where people talk about how insulting it is to call Japanese people Japs. Well... truth to tell, "Japs" was probably the least offensive thing American's called the Japanese during WWII. The one thing they were never called was Human. They stopped being people.

And Germans? Well, they were the Hun, Square Heads, Block heads, Krauts, Nazis... not people. Not human beings. Never human beings.

Governments, (all governments) and their armys work hard to make sure that The Enemy is the dark, shadowy figure that spears infants with pitch forks, and gets all wet and wiggly over the prospect of murdering innocents.

With "All Quiet...", Remarque put a human face on a German soldier for the first time in more than 10 years for the English speaking world.

I think that's what they want to do with "Letters From Iwo Jima". Put a human face on the Japanese soldiers.

Yes, I see your point of bringing up gAll Quiet on the Western Fronth in the discussion. I still havenft read the novel, and havenft seen the movie either, but based on your brief review of gAll Quiet on the Western Fronth and its comparison to gLetters from Iwo Jimah I can tell that it wasnft just about a vision of people killing each other, showing the righteousness of a country (USA) and symbolizing an enemy as a bunch of cold-blooded monsters (Germany and Japan), but it also shows that the so-called enemy is also a human being. These enemies also feel sorrow when losing a comrade in battle, they also know how to love and have a fear of dying and leaving their loved ones behind or fear of losing their country to the hands of the invaders and feel the agony and pain of being conquered.

My previous post was just a reply from Trikyfs post regarding the possibility of seeing gruesome deaths (not necessarily from torture or anything too violent, seeing a soldier losing a leg from explosion is enough in my opinion :hehe: ) in "Letters from Iwo Jima", but that doesnft mean it should be the main focus of the movie or the thing we only look at, it is the story of this soldier (a General I think :sweat: ) and his letters to his loved ones that caught my attention. :)

And oh, "All Quiet on the Western Front" kinda caught my interest, I'll see if I can find a book of this in the library, if not, buy a copy of it in the bookstore and read it.

Just finished watching The Hunt For Red October about an hour ago...

Excellent movie. :victory:

It is...... even with Sean Connery as a Russian with a Scottish accent :)

Anime Dad wrote:It is...... even with Sean Connery as a Russian with a Scottish accent :)

I was more than willing to overlook that.

And the fact that most of the Russians can speak English, while none of the Americans, except for Jack Ryan, can speak Russian. :beaten:

Yeah - I forgot that.

My dad looks just like Sean Connery in that movie - they even have the same beard and haircut. And the same accent. They are the same age too :)

Anime Dad wrote:Yeah - I forgot that.

My dad looks just like Sean Connery in that movie - they even have the same beard and haircut. And the same accent. They are the same age too :)

Is your dad wearing a rug, too? :beaten:

(Sorry, if I offended you :sweat: )

LOL, no he's as bald as a badger. Has been since his late 20's. Luckily it never bothered him :P

Even more luckily, I didn't inherit male pattern baldness from him :dancing:

Anime Dad wrote:LOL, no he's as bald as a badger. Has been since his late 20's. Luckily it never bothered him :P

Whew. :sweat:

Are badgers bald?? :headscratch:

Even more luckily, I didn't inherit male pattern baldness from him :dancing:

:victory:

Genetics are great when it works out in your favor. :thumbsup:

They are in Scotland :hehe:

Deja Vu looks like a pretty interesting movie

K.T.Tran wrote:Deja Vu looks like a pretty interesting movie

LOL, I just saw that same commercial. :hehe:

bmwracer wrote:
LOL, I just saw that same commercial. :hehe:

Yea?

nice nice :hehe: :hehe:

K.T.Tran wrote:Yea?

nice nice :hehe: :hehe:

Along with Denzel Washington, I saw Val Kilmer and Jim Caviezel.

bmwracer wrote:
Along with Denzel Washington, I saw Val Kilmer and Jim Caviezel.

O_______o


I didn't notice those guys. Maybe I don't recognize their faces as well.

K.T.Tran wrote:O_______o


I didn't notice those guys. Maybe I don't recognize their faces as well.

Time for beddie-bye... :hehe:

bmwracer wrote:
Time for beddie-bye... :hehe:

:rofl: :rofl:

Almost. Getting there.