Sands of Iwo Jima

Sergeant Stryker trains marines. He is hard, he drinks, and he keeps close to nobody; his family left him and the corps is all he has. He treats the new men mercilessly and is hated. The unit lands first at Tarawa and then at Iwo Jima. The rules that made no sense in training take on meaning in combat. Allan Dwan directs. John Wayne plays Stryker. Wayne received his first Academy Award nomination for the part. There are real people in the flag raising at the end. Three of the marines who raised the flag on Iwo Jima and survived the war played themselves and appear in that scene. The film was made with the support of the American military, which provided equipment, locations and real combat footage, and that partnership determines its view. The matter at the centre is discipline: the film defends harshness as a necessity and vindicates Stryker's method. The battle scenes are combined with archive material and are at scale for their time. Who it is for: viewers who like classic American war films and John Wayne. Who it is not for: the film openly carries propaganda, the other side never appears as human, and the narrative is formulaic.