Eastwood's victory

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Clint Eastwood is 76, near the age of the veterans who survived the battle for Iwo Jima in 1945.

Yet here he is, fat with as much praise as any actor turned auteur could dream of, directing two epic features back-to-back from both sides of the conflict.

Had he failed, or met with middling success, the ambition alone would have impressed.

But with "Letters From Iwo Jima," Mr. Eastwood trumps last year's spotty "Flags of Our Fathers" in both power and subtle beauty.

"Iwo Jima" drops us behind enemy lines, letting us meet the Japanese soldiers charged with securing Iwo Jima.

It's an ugly slab of land, but one rich in strategic and nationalistic value.

Through its defense, Mr. Eastwood takes a multilayered look at both war and the men doomed to fight it. Not only is the color stripped nearly clean here, but so, too, is Mr. Eastwood's penchant for cloying moments.

What's left is as lean as it is novel. How many Americans itch to tell history from the opposing side?

Like "Flags," "Letters" uses a modern-day framing device to enter the story. Here, it's archaeologists digging up letters found at Iwo Jima.

The tale shifts backward from there, as we meet exhausted Japanese soldiers digging trenches near the island's beaches. Enter Lt. Gen. Tadamichi Kuribayashi (Ken Watanabe), chosen to lead the island's defense. He's a brilliant strategist as well as a humane one, shifting the troop's positions away from the lapping water while imploring the officers to treat the men with some kindness.