Blu-ray Box Set Review: 'The Battle of Iwo Jima Collection: Flags of Our Fathers/Letters from Iwo Jima'

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(C) 2009 Warner Home Video


In 2009, Warner Home Video released The Battle of Iwo Jima Collection, a box set comprised of director Clint Eastwood’s Iwo Jima Duology – Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima. Co-produced by Eastwood’s production company Malpaso and Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment, these two movies examine one of World War II’s fiercest battles through the experiences of the American and Japanese troops that fought it.

Legendary filmmaker Clint Eastwood cuts open the heart of war and reveals the souls of men on both sides in a landmark dual film project hailed as his masterpiece. Shot back to back to be viewed in sequence, Flags of Our Fathers is a riveting chronicle of U.S. heroes on the front lines and in the headlines at home, while Letters from Iwo Jima reveals the untold stories of the ill-equipped but fierce Japanese fighters who rallied against awesome American forces in a brutal 40-day campaign. Together, they create a triumphant, stirring tribute to all soldiers who fight for their homelands and die for their convictions. – Warner Home Video



The Battle of Iwo Jima Collection is a box set that comes with two single Blu-ray discs, each one packaged in its own blue plastic “jewel box” with film-specific art and labeling.




Flags of Our Fathers contains:

Clint Eastwood’s 126-minute-long feature film

  • Introduction by Clint Eastwood
  • Words on the Page: From Book to Screen
  • Six Brave Men: Cast Members Profile the Real People They Portray
  • The Making of an Epic: The Veteran Production Team
  • Raising the Flag: Recreating a Historic Event
  • Visual Effects: Creating “Invisible” Effects
  • Looking Into the Past: Historical Footage and Newsreels of the Island Campaign
  • Theatrical Trailer



Letters from Iwo Jima contains:

  • The 134-minute-long feature film
  • Red Sun, Black Sand: The Making of Letters from Iwo Jima
  • The Faces of Combat: The Cast of Letters from Iwo Jima
  • Images from the Front Line: The Photography of Letters from Iwo Jima
  • November 2006 World Premiere Coverage at Budo-kan in Tokyo
  • November 2006 Press Conference
  • Theatrical Trailer

 

My Take
Although Clint Eastwood’s Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima are excellent films and received acclaim from critics in the U.S. and elsewhere, they were not successful at the box office, especially in the United States. Even though Eastwood’s duology depicts a conflict that many Americans consider to be morally justified and necessary, Flags of Our Fathers and its companion film Letters from Iwo Jima came out during the controversial and morally ambiguous Iraq War.
In 2006, any war movie that came out of Hollywood was essentially box office poison. It didn’t matter to war-weary audiences if Clint Eastwood teamed up with Steven Spielberg or that one director made two movies about the same battle to tell a fair and balanced account about wars and the toll it takes on the young men who fight in them. Most American viewers were apathetic when the films were released two months apart:
Flags of Our Fathers, which cost $90 million to make, only earned $65,900,249 world-wide. Its sequel, Letters from Iwo Jima, performed slightly better: it earned $68.7 million world-wide against a budget of $19 million. Again, it earned rave reviews from many U.S. critics but was ignored by U.S. audiences. (The film did better in Japan and even caused a small boom in tourism from the Home Islands to the prefecture where Iwo Jima is located.)
As a result, Warner Home Video has not aggressively marketed the Blu-ray or DVD versions of the Iwo Jima duology. There are several DVD sets that include Collector’s Editions of both films, but at least on Amazon the only Blu-ray set that comes with both films is the region-free Warner Home Video set made for the United Kingdom/Ireland market.
The Battle of Iwo Jima Collection is a decent box set for film buffs who want an affordable edition of Eastwood’s duology but seek something more than a “barebones” release with the movies but nothing else.
Obviously, it would have been nice if Warner Home Video had given us two 2-BD sets with more extras, like Paramount/Dreamworks did for its Sapphire Collection release of Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan several years ago. But considering that Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima flopped at the box office, maybe this is the best the studio and its home video division can offer.

Blu-ray Specifications:

Video
  • Codec: VC-1
  • Resolution: 1080p
  • Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
  • Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1

Audio
Flags of Our Fathers
  • English: LPCM 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
  • English: Dolby Digital 5.1 (640 kbps)
  • Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1 (640 kbps)


Letters from Iwo Jima
  • Japanese: Dolby TrueHD 5.1
  • Japanese: Dolby Digital 5.1


Subtitles
Flags of Our Fathers
  • English, English SDH, Spanish

Letters from Iwo Jima
  • English, English SDH, French, Spanish

Discs
  • Blu-ray Disc
  • Two-disc set (2 BD-50)

Packaging
  • Slipcover in original pressing

Playback
  • Region free




  

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