Eastwood, Scorcese take home year's first major film honours

Dec 7, 2006, 10:29 GMT

US film director Clint Eastwood at the Japan premier press conference of the movie Letters From Iwo Jima in Tokyo, Thursday 16 November, 2006. The Clint Eastwood directed movie opens in Japanese cinemas December 9th. EPA/EVERETT KENNEDY BROWN

Los Angeles - Clint Eastwood's Japanese-language World War II film Letters from Iwo Jima was named 2006 best picture Wednesday by the National Board of Review, in the year's first major film awards.

The movie tells the story of the battle for the Pacific island from the point of view of the Japanese commander and his soldiers as they prepared to die in the fight for the strategic island.

Martin Scorsese nabbed the best director prize for The Departed, which also scored a win in the ensemble cast category.

Forest Whitaker landed the prize for best actor for his performance as Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland, while Helen Mirren nabbed best actress for her role as Queen Elizabeth II in The Queen.

Djimon Hounso of Blood Diamond and Catherine O'Hara from For Your Consideration won in the supporting actor and supporting actress categories.

Pedro Almodovar's Volver won the prize for foreign film. Al Gore's environmental warning An Inconvenient Truth won best documentary while Cars was named best animated feature.

The National Board of Review is a well-respected film review and education organization, composed of film professionals, educators and historians, without commercial ties to the movie industry.

The organization also named its top 10 films, which apart from Letters From Iwo Jima included Babel, Blood Diamond, The Departed, The Devil Wears Prada, Flags Of Our Fathers, The History Boys, Little Miss Sunshine, Notes on a Scandal and The Painted Veil.