August 15 is the 61st anniversary of Emperor Hirohito's capitulation speech that ended World War II. Yet even in a world assailed ever since with ghastly images of conflicts, few rank with the ferocity both sides showed in the battle for a remote Pacific islet in the spring of 1945. That islet's name is Iwo Jima; it was Japan's first 'home' island to fall.
After years of clumsy, caricatured and often racist portrayals of Japan, Hollywood has recently been struggling to make amends.
First up was Tom Cruise's disillusioned American Civil War vet seduced by the Bushido code of honor in 2003's "The Last Samurai." Then came last year's photogenic Stephen Spielberg-produced "Memoirs of a Geisha," which traded heavily on Oriental cliches. Now, this year will see the release of Clint Eastwood's sure-fire double-feature blockbuster on the Battle of Iwo Jima.