Dvd
Flags Of Our Fathers
To capitalize on the wave of sentiment the photo inspires, the surviving 3 'Flag Raisers' are pulled out of combat and sent back to the States to continue to serve their country – not on the battlefield but among crowds of adoring throngs, and as pawns in a government war bonds drive.
John (Phillippe), a Navy Corpsman; Ira (Beach), a publicity-shy Native American; and Rene (Bradford), a wartime messenger who avoided firing his weapon.
They tirelessly tour America as the very power of their image rescues the flagging war effort. But inwardly, they find that along with their friends and brothers felled in combat, a part of their souls will never leave the black soils of Iwo Jima.
Starring Ryan Phillippe, Jesse Bradford, Adam Beach, Paul Walker, Barry Pepper, Jamie Bell, Benjamin Hickey
Directed by Clint Eastwood (Million Dollar Baby, Mystic River, The Bridges of Madison County, A Perfect World, Unforgiven)
Written by Paul Haggis, William Broyles Jr. (based on the book by James Bradley & Ron Powers)
Produced by Clint Eastwood, Steven Spielberg,, Robert Lorenz
2hr 12mins | Rated (R15) | contains realistic & graphic war scenes | Origin: Iceland, USA | Official Site »
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Flicks review
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If you hadn’t heard already, war is shit. And while soldiers are paraded as heroes by their government and public, risking your life, killing people in the name of your country, and watching buddies die faced down in the muck doesn’t earn a soldier an easy life after the event. As re-iterated in Clint Eastwood’s 'Flags Of Our Fathers'.
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When photographer Joe Rosenthal snapped a picture of US soldiers raising the flag on Mt Suribachi, during the fifth day of the battle of Iwo Jima in the Pacific, it become a symbol of America’s struggle and perceived triumph in WWII. It wound up on the front of every newspaper, and the three surviving soldiers where whisked back to the States to be received as heroes and head a government war bonds drive.
Rene Ragnon (Bradford) embraced his hero status. John Bradley (Phillippe) was more muted, struggling with scenes from the battle and his lost friends. And Ira Hayes (Beach) completely lost it, unable to accept being called a hero and embattled with grandma’s cough medicine. Ira has been depicted before in the film 'The Outsider' (1961) and in the song covered by Johnny Cash & Bob Dylan. He was an American Indian who whilst publicly a war hero, couldn’t buy a drink in his homeland (redneck Americans are to blame). He drank, and died at 32. His is the saddest part of the story.
The film intercuts between the battle (riveting, and shot in near black and white, Saving Private Ryan-esque handheld), the soldiers journey State-side, and John Bradley’s son researching what happened in present day. Too much intercutting. Why the intercutting? It gets annoying, you want to watch what happens next but instead we’re transported with a ‘clever’ cut to another time.
I was skeptical about the casting of Ryan Phillippe and other pretty boys such as Paul Walker. But it’s a stroke of genius in hindsight. Phillippe, with a churning inward performance, is especially great and his baby face persona only assists with the notion of these young kids being thrust into hell.
Parallels to the present US war are obvious – they entered the war and couldn’t leave. Financially screwed during the 40s, the government is dependent on selling war bonds. With a bit of propaganda and a willing public, they used the trio as celebrities to this end and - with a casual disregard - forgot about them after the war.
Is it good? Yes, it is. But while Eastwood puts plenty of his trademark grunt behind the film, like his most previous 'Million Dollar Baby' (also co-written by Paul Haggis) he can’t help being overly sentimental at times. The whole photograph centerpiece is an interesting angle, yet the film ultimately ends up a bit same samey. Intriguingly, Eastwood simultaneously filmed a parallel story about the Japanese soldiers. This film, ‘Letters From Iwo Jima’ will be released next year. [By Ed]SHARE:
The people's reviews
7 reviews
Press Reviews
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FilmThreat.com [USA]
2
What Flags of Our Fathers is not, however, is moving, evocative, or very unique...
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NZ Herald
4
It eschews Saving Private Ryan's neatly rounded moral shape because Eastwood, sensibly, asks more questions than he answers. He [Eastwood] has made a flawed movie, but it has the seeds of greatness in it...
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Premiere Magazine [USA]
2
Flags of our Fathers really loses its way in the final half-hour, when the point-of-view abruptly shifts to James Bradley (played here by Tom McCarthy), who takes on the role of narrator, informing us of what happened to each of these men after the war ended and their names became yesterday's news. It's a jarring switch...
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Rolling Stone
3
1/2 Flags of Our Fathers is a film of awesome power and blistering provocation. An amazing feat, since Eastwood is tied to the nonfiction best seller that James Bradley wrote about his father, John “Doc” Bradley, the last survivor among the six soldiers who raised the flag on Iwo Jima...
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The Hollywood Reporter
Clint Eastwood's Flags of Our Fathers does a most difficult and brave thing and does it brilliantly. It is a movie about a concept. Not just any concept but the shop-worn and often wrong-headed idea of "heroism." ...
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Variety [US]
Ambitiously tackling his biggest canvas to date, Clint Eastwood continues to defy and triumph over the customary expectations for a film career in "Flags of Our Fathers." A pointed exploration of heroism, the picture welds a powerful account of the battle of Iwo Jima, the bloodiest single engagement the United States fought in World War II, with an ironic and ultimately sad look at its aftermath for three key survivors...
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