I'm worried that the focus of this film is after the battle. I'll read the book, I hear it is good.
The tone of the film seems to be our boys were used, the photo was a lie, and if it wasn't for US propaganda, the war would've been lost.
Bradley did a great job with the book (much better than his next effort). But then the true story of Iwo Jima & the flag raisers writes itself...
Propaganda is a very useful tool in times of war, and with that tool America has made much progress in fighting our enemies. Those who wish to castigate the use of propaganda in a time of war are engaging in a type of propaganda themselves (and are thus being hypocrites).
'Flags' flies high under Eastwood's mastery
10/20/06 - 07:20 AM
Clint Eastwood just keeps getting better. At 76, his skill for directing films that mine the human experience for truth and emotion continues to astound.
He seemed at the top of his game in 2003 when he made Mystic River, then reached a new peak the following year with the emotionally wrenching Million Dollar Baby. Who would have thought he could best himself with an epic and unflinching film about World War II, especially after so many noteworthy war movies already have been made?
But with Flags of Our Fathers, we undeniably pledge our audience allegiance. When it seemed that everything had already been said about the Greatest Generation, along comes Eastwood with a compelling and eloquent examination of the nature of heroism. It is one of the year's best films and perhaps the finest modern film about World War II.
The story built around the battle of Iwo Jima and the political fallout from that epic clash between the USA and Japan is fascinating and morally complex. It's hard to imagine audiences failing to be riveted by the unrelenting combat sequences. The battle scenes are graphically depicted but never gratuitous. At the same time, the story looks at life during wartime, from several angles.
Flags starts with the iconic image of the famous photo in which six exhausted servicemen hoist the American flag five days into a battle on Iwo Jima that raged on for more than a month. The story built around this seminal photo is eloquently written by Paul Haggis (Crash) and Bill Broyles Jr. (Cast Away).
The focus is on the three surviving soldiers of the six -- played with sensitivity and intelligence by Ryan Phillippe, Jesse Bradford and Ryan Beach -- tapped by military and government officials and trotted around on a nationwide tour as the ultimate symbols of courageous warriors. The intent behind honoring this trio was to inspire patriotic fervor and persuade Americans to buy war bonds. Each man copes differently with the dawning reality that he is being manipulated. Beach is brilliant as a Native American soldier who laid his life on the line but still must endure racism. His character's arc from proud fighter to lost soul is heartbreaking.
The story is told, years later, to Phillippe's adult son (Tom McCarthy) by photographer Joe Rosenthal (Ned Eisenberg), who took the Pulitzer Prize-winning image. The lives of all three men are marked by their experience. The glimpse we get of the relationship between Phillippe's character as an older man and his son is achingly poignant.
The film is patriotic in the truest sense: honoring those who risked their lives in battle and questioning the motives of those in power who sought to use the soldiers as political pawns.
Though the film respects the heroes it depicts, it also takes a cynical look at the selling of war to the American people. Flags of Our Fathers is the rare action film that is superbly acted, hauntingly powerful and deeply insightful.
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