Warbird Information Exchange

My wife and I saw this movie over the weekend and we both give it 4 stars! Not too many warbirds in this version but a few Corsairs do fly over and shoot up the place. Has anyone else seen it yet?

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Ain't no sunshine when she's gone!

we saw it as well this weekend. i thought it was good but it certainly could have used a lot more action! the Japanese held off the marines for more than a month and inflicted a terrible toll on the u.s. soldiers. i thought that fact was downplayed or even ignored to a degree in the story. i thought that it was really lacking in the battle scenes and the cgi of the fleet at anchor was poor. some of the cgi, however, was excellent! i thought that the acting was very good , and there were a few interesting twists as well. in a nutshell, i would say that it is worth seeing, but if you didnt know the true story behind the movie i think you would get lost in it. just my humble opinion. sim .

Is this the one that's entirely in Japanese?

John

Not to sound mean, but I am not interested in "their side of the story".

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Manager

I AGREE, mustangdriver!

Why not? Have you no interest in "the human condition"? I'm sure most were family guys just hoping they could outlive the war. They were just as patriotic and believed in their cause just like our guys did. Sure there were some extremists, but I doubt that was the norm. Must have been sad to be on the losing end, even if it was well deserved.

I saw it this weekend as well. It was a good movie. a little soft on the action and little soft on the Imperial Japanese systematic destruction of itself. There were very strong moments of the shear terror and stupidity of the Japanese position. Of course in the Hollywood way the main characters were sympathetic anti war types...which do exist on the battlefield...we are all human and we all have desires and doubts.

One must always remember to not shun the thoughts of the enemy..they one day be important to our own victory.
and
It is well that war is so terrible — lest we should grow too fond of it.
* Robert E. Lee

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Zane Adams
There I was at 20,000 ft, upside down and out of ammunition.
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I think your point may be that the Japanese were so barbaric that "their side" should not be considered. But I want to know it for several reasons; military interest, tatical interest, and especially to understand more of other parts of the human race and especially how people could be that inhuman. From what little I know there was no opposition within Japan to their brutality. We and many other nations have atrocities by our miltary, but it issmaller, not something that as a society we are proud of. Even some forces within Germany did not approve of all of Hitlers doings, and Allied prisoners there had a lot better chance of survival there than Japan,

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Bill Greenwood
Spitfire N308WK

I have a great uncle that was in one of the death marches. He told me all the stories I ever need to know about their side of the story.

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Manager

Isn't this "Letters" movie a kind of companion piece for "Flags of our Fathers". If so, in that context, does the "Letters" movie make "more sense" and/or is easier to understand?

Bill, it is well documented that Japanese brutality was not isolated to a few "bad apples". The Japanese practiced brutality everywhere they showed up from China to Wake Island . They hardly mention their involvement in WWII in their schools.

Rick, perhaps I did not write clearly, or you read what you thought I was saying. I make little or no excuse for the Japanese. While I drive a Mercedes, I can't bring myself to buy a Toyota. But I still want to know what made their society like that, perhaps what we could do if faced with people like that again, perhaps in Africa. What I was trying to say, was unlike US, Isreal, even Germany the whole country seemed to be behind their brutality and it extended to both soldiers and civilians as victims. Allied soldiers had a decent chance of surviving German captivity. Papa Boynington's book makes it pretty clear what he thought of the Japanese.

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Bill Greenwood
Spitfire N308WK

Having seen "Flags" and "Letters", I have to wonder why "Letters" got the nod for "Best Picture"? I thought "Letters" was a novel idea, but was slow and bordered at times on boring. I can only think it was nominated for "Best Picture" because it is the politically correct, hollywood feel good thing to do. Good movie, not great movie.

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Eric

"I spent most of my money on alcohol, women and skyraiders....and the rest of it I just wasted."

I had an great uncle as well that was there and the only way he made it was that he cooked for them. He never spoke about much, but he did see the 2nd nuker and that the P-51 was a fighting piece of funiture. My Grandmother, his sister would not have anything to do with Japan at all.

Lynn

How good is Flags, should I try to see it? Sometimes you can judge a movie or something else by waiting some time and then seeing if you'd like to do it again. I just saw Lawerence of Arabia again. I don't think I'd go see Letters again. As Eric said it gets kind of slow, and the futility of the killing gets old.

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Bill Greenwood
Spitfire N308WK