All I know about Iwo Jima is the statue in Rosslyn, Virginia and the photograph it's based on. I really wish I'd seen Clint Eastwood's Flags of our Fathers last year - but it came and went far too quickly from local cinemas. Watching Clint Eastwood's Letters from Iwo Jima, I wish I knew more about the American assault on the Japanese island - so I could have a sense of what was coming across the ocean toward the Japanese soldiers in this film.

Clint Eastwood has a very sure hand here. What we are presented with is the Japanese point of view of the U.S. invasion of this small volcanic Japanese Island. Mostly in the Japanese language, there is a delicate balance maintained between the traditional war film narrative - and giving an insight into the Japanese war machine - and the soldiers who fought and died for the Emporer and their country.

It's an impressive film to look at, beautifully scored and masterfully acted. Ken Watanabe and Kazunari Ninomiya are incredible in their roles - at opposite ends of the command structure: career soldier and draftee, respectively.

Clearly, Eastwood means to give a voice to America's enemy during World War II - emphasising that the two sides are not so different from each other when you look at the people involved. The decisions come from much higher up and the soldiers on the ground have to follow orders. The strongest scenes of the film deal with Japanese culture and how insubordination in their military would be handled - and how honour and sacrifice is held in high regard, whether or not the fight is basically fruitless.

The film doesn't shy away from the brutality of the American invaders - which makes me even more interested in seeing how Flags of our Fathers treats the landing at Iwo Jima from the U.S. perspective. Hopefully it is as revealing and confronting as this film show us of the other side.