[Names Ash Housewares]

I think people are always tired of war.
But we dont have the luxury to let that prevent victory, then or now.

[crazyhorse691]

Which war?

[cripplecreek]

I think the biggest difference is the fact that we used to fight wars as a nation. We rationed resources, bought war bonds and grew victory gardens. Today we send soldiers to fight then complain when things don't go the way we want.

[BeHoldAPaleHorse]

At the beginning of the trailor, a narrator says "people were tired of war." My question, was that true for back then?

Yes, they were. By that point, the war had gone on for over three years, and we'd just fought bloody campaigns for Aachen, the Ardennes, and the Philippines. Japan had just started using kamikaze tactics a few months earlier. As far as America could tell, we had at least another two years of war left, and that the last year on Japanese soil would be the bloodiest.

[tom h]

"Just caught a trailor - online - of Flags of our Fathers. At the beginning of the trailor, a narrator says "people were tired of war." My question, was that true for back then? Or is that some current crap thrown in? "

Read the book and you will find out that the narrator is correct and that Clint Eastwood did not go liberal on us.

The book is one of the best I have ever read and, yes, after four years, Americans were tired of war. The photo, and the stories of heroism on Iwo, energized the country to finish things without losing hope. Before the "photo," the War Dep't was concerned that the next bond drive would raise enough money for the next phase. But Americans were so enthused by the Iwo stories, and the heroes, that the bond drive exceeded its goals significantly.

Remember, no one knew in February 1945 that the war would be over in six months. Everyone expected a costly and bloody invasion of Japan by November.

Suggest you get the book at the library and read it before the movie. It will not spoil the movie and you will understand better the context for the movie.

Final note -- do not read anything else by the book author, James Bradley, especially his second book, "Flyboys." He is a product of the sixties generation and spent his formative years in Japan as a leftist. His political leanings do not really come out in "Flags" but in "Flyboys" all his moral relativism spews forth, and he equates Japan's evil with America's own conduct during WWII. I think the reason he got away with it is he had no adult supervision when writing the book. "Flags" was Bradley's first book and written with a co-author, an expert on WWII. "Flyboys" was written on his own.

[Question Liberal Authority]

Yes, people were tired of war and they needed a pick-me-up and that photograph did help.

The real difference is that back then, the media and Hollywood were downright eager to do ANYTHING THEY COULD to HELP the war effort. Even commie peaceniks like Pete Seegar were singing songs like "round and round Hitler's grave we go".

[Jalapeno]

here is a trailer - or a few of them:

http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/2775054

[Clemenza]

According to my grandmother: YES! Especially if you had family over there.

If you think 1940s America was filled with women happy about their husbands/boyfriends/sons being thousands of miles away eating shrapnel, you have been the victim of postwar revisionism.

[LadyDoc]

I just posted on my blog that the reviewers at Rotten Tomatoes loved it because it showed "Effective as epic reconstruction of Iwo Jima's brutal combat and as timely deconstruction of the flag raising iconic image and the myth of war heroes as fabricated and sold by the power elite."

The good news is that the kids at Ain'titcool news hated it because it was too confusing...so it probably will not be a hit, but I suspect Hollywood will give it oodles of awards.

[Northern Yankee]

My mom and I were talking about this very thing a few weeks ago. (She lived through that time period.)

There was a real isolationist movement headed up by Charles Lindberg, and had Joe Kennedy Sr. as core believers.

There was even a H.R. Bill 1776 that called for us to be independent of European hostilities and remain neutral.

[Atlas Sneezed]

Is your tailer a traiter?