Now in, in the context of Western interaction I found one of the pieces that can be published I think in the very near future by Robert Burgoyne quite interesting. Generational Memory and Affects in Letters of Iwo Jima, a piece of criticism from an academic at St Andrews University in Scotland. Now the issue of generalation, generational memory, I think, is something that we'd like, I'd like to come back to separately. But he highlights the idea of, of the honorable suicide, which certainly is something that's reflected in the film and he highlights three occasions when it. It's actually quite a strong a strong metaphor for the code and the honor of the Japanese servicemen. >> There's the perception of Japanese soldiers as they will do, kill anyone including themselves if they have to. Whereas, I don't know, say the British or the Americans. Don't particularly want to die, if they do, they do. But they're not going to go out of there way to. >> and that actually comes through again with some of the commentaries and some of the, the information we have around the films. that the American soldiers, marines, navy, the Brits, et cetera. are serving their country. But there's an expectation they're going to come back. >> Yeah. >> with the Japanese, it is, it, it's portrayed. Both in the film, and I think, in the, the background interpretation of that, you aren't coming back. You are there to actually defend to the death. And I, and I think to a certain point it's, it's it, it, it's something that was said to me many, many years ago. From a military perspective, if you are committing troops to the field, and you're a commander, then you have to assume these men are dead. Otherwise, you know that you are going to put them out there in harms way. >>Mm. >> that you cannot, at this point, make decisions about people's lives separate from the military engagement. Now, that's not necessarily something that we talk a great deal about. it was certainly referred a little bit in terms of Black Hawk Down. You can get men to march into battle, get them to go to a second or a third attempt we're having experienced the that's a different matter, you know, so I think that, that comes through accordingly. But I, I found it interesting. I'm just going to pick up on a, another little quote here, and this comes from Robert Scallar's review in Sinistra. and he just makes the point, at the end, the General and Sergio are alone on the beach like a little like Lea and his foal, as the Commander requests a hidden burial after his intended suicide. And just that relation back to Leah and his foal. I think the relationship in the film is much stronger than that but it's something I wouldn't immediately have picked up on. So, the, the, the range of criticism that has come through to the film has read into what has been put forward, multi-layered and culturally resonating ideas. So, the, the fact there is a con, consciousness about, honor, code, and, if you like, honorable suicide, from a Western perspective. This is not something that we, we, expect of. Of those serving the country per se, but is portrayed as being common in the Japanese. And I made the point at the last time we, we were filming. About the idea that the Americans were concerned that the Japanese were, prepared to act as, in 21st century terms, quote, suicide bombers to take tanks out, etcetera. So, I think that's, that's a, a, an interesting broad perspective. But I want to talk a little bit more about generational history. And, and I think that the, the article, Generational sorry, Generational Memory and Affects in, in Letters From Iwo Jima makes really quite well. There are a number of movies in the recent past, Saving Private Ryan we talked about, The Thin Red Line, which again is another Pacific war movie. We also have the TV series The Pacific, etcetera, which is a retelling through modern eyes. with a willingness to actually deal with the human interaction of the troops on the American side and look at the dangers they're facing. Facing in, in a, a non-heroically, stereotypical view. And when it comes to Iwo Jima, Letters of Iwo Jima particularly, the idea that even though it is a Japanese cast with a Western director, that it's a story that could be told now. That perhaps wouldn't have been so welcome in the past. The only movie I can really think about growing up that had anything like this was Tora, Tora, Tora! Which, of course, is a Japanese perspective. So, from, from various things that you've seen. Films, etcetera. With Downfall, and a number of contemporary war films. I think we are moving into another period of reflection. Not only in terms of the historical understanding of the public, but the willingness of artists to engage with that material in a, in a way which is very distinct from the past. >> I cert, you look at. something like Good Morning, Vietnam. Which is a is a comedy. it took them 20, 30 years after the event in order to be able to actually say, well, okay. We've got this, we've got this guy who, either did or didn't exist. But was. And we're basically making a comedy about Vietnam. And so you're, you're talking about there's already a generation. >>Mm-hm. >>Before they've started making, before they've started making films like that. And of course that's, you know, depending on the generation of the, film makers, that's going to have a, a massive effect. >> And, and there's consideration with the Vietnam War arc that Apocalypse Now marked a different agenda. It was very visceral, it was incredibly graphic, I know that's a horribly over used word, but it's also a retelling of Joseph Conrad, Conrad's story the Heart of Darkness but in a contemporary environment. To what degree has America descended to the heart of darkness with its, its, it's involvement with the Vietnam War. So, I think that, that's something that we can, can think about contemporary movie making. We have the, the very stylized heroic movies, but they tend to be against, completely fictitious enemies. I'm thinking about the recently dreadful movie, Battle Los Angeles. Forgive me if I've got the title wrong, et cetera. It's okay to be heroic against aliens. Yeah? >> Right. >> If you're actually now putting a different perspective through. if you look at Quentin Tarantino's Inglorious Bastards. That clearly didn't in any way didn't sanitize the Germans. But gave a very different perspective from American involvement. >> Yeah, I, I it's one of those ones that I haven't seen. So. but the, the whole I, the whole, the whole concept of it is not, not necessarily risky. I don't, I don't think it's risky, but I I bet there were a lot of people in the pit, in the pitch when you went in to give the pitch that said, what the hell is he thinking about? >> Mm-hm, that again that's Quentin Tarantino so we won't be surprised that. >> [INAUDIBLE]. [LAUGH]
