"Flags of our Fathers" mini-review

self | 10/20/06 | LS

[LS]

This is not intended as a full-scale review, just some impressions from seeing the movie tonight.

First, as you likely know, it deals with the three men (a Navy corpsman and two Marines) of the six flag raisers who survived Iwo Jima. Clint Eastwood directed this pic, which traces the first flag-raising---which, of course, was thought to be "the" flag-raising---then the second, captured for all time in Joe Rosenthal's photo. The main plot line is that the nation was broke, and would have to sue for peace with the Japanese (right) if we didn't generate more money, quickly, through war bond sales. So these three men were dragooned into doing war bond tours, even to the point of re-enacting their "charge" up Suribachi and their flag-raising.

Second, Eastwood jumps back and forth between time frames---the bond tour, combat on Iwo Jima---that it's extremely difficult to follow. Despite taking time on the ship to try to set the characters of those other than the three main characters (Ira Hayes, Rene Gagnon, and John Bradley), the grittiness of war makes the men look so much alike that, well, it's hard to identify with any particular characters---at least, it was for me.

The main theme of the movie is guilt: the guilt felt by the flag-raisers for their buddies who didn't survive, guilt on Gagnon's part for "only" being a runner, guilt on Hayes's part for only firing his weapon a few times. Eastwood drives home the difficulty of bearing the label "hero," especially when one hasn't done anything particularly outstanding, except for surviving. While he does try, through the War Department representative, to grapple with the public's need for heroes---men who can symbolize what the others went through---Eastwood never quite gets there. Torn between trying to depict the carnage and mayhem of war and the importance of living icons with which to identify, Eastwood comes up a little short in each.

The final lines of the movie repeat the refrain from "Black Hawk Down," "Saving Private Ryan," and other recent war movies: Ultimately, they fought for each other, not for a cause or a country. Perhaps some did, but I find it hard to believe that so many millions of men signed up just to fight for each other.

Moreover, while the photo did capture the public's imagination, there was no doubt in anyone's mind that we would win the Pacific eventually; and in February 1945, with Nazi Germany collapsing, the Bulge pocket pushed back out, and American armies pushing into Germany, to suggest that Americans were about to "give up" if we hadn't gotten a miraculous photo is utter nonsense.

In short, I was disappointed only because I expected a lot more.

[LS]

BTW, they showed the trailer for a Christmas movie called "The Nativity Story" and it looked absolutely fantastic.

[Lancey Howard]

Good review. Thanks for your insights and opinions.
I am looking forward to seeing this movie.
BUMP for great freeping.

[bnelson44]

LS, there is a truth about war and the US Army. Many men sign up for the military for many different reasons. But in battle, most, ultimately, fight for each other. That is what they are trained to do.

[BigSkyFreeper]

I look forward to seeing this movie. I've already read the book.

[Petronski]

Sounds like another disappointing effort to deconstruct the patriotism of WWII.

[NonValueAdded]

Eastwood drives home the difficulty of bearing the label "hero," especially when one hasn't done anything particularly outstanding, except for surviving.

Yet for some, they grasp the label with both hands - and they keep the hat.

[God luvs America]

Joel Seagal is a long time local film/movie critic here in NY city for local news....typical liberal/gay from what I can tell...

He gave a review and I readied myself....his review was so emotional I could not contain myself....

After saying the movie was absolutely glorious and that while you watch it you don't think you are watching history rather you are a part of history he went on to thank Clint Eastwood for making this movie and reminding us of the heroism at Iwo...

He ended with something I will never forget- "the reason we are here today is because they went there"...

I thought the two news women next to him were about to bust out in tears...

Fantastic interview I did not expect!!!!

[BillyBonebrake]

I just got back from seeing it and concur with this review.

One thing that really impressed me was the batch of other contemporaneous photos that ran along with the credits at the end. Some moving images - and most of the audience stayed to see them. The final part - after the credits had rolled - was of the dozens of dog tags strung from the memorial that is now in place at the hilltop.

Also, a lot of the film was shot on location on Iwo Jima, which added to the realism.

[PeterPrinciple]

The main plot line is that the nation was broke, and would have to sue for peace with the Japanese

Huh?

[Petronski]

The main plot line is that the nation was broke, and would have to sue for peace with the Japanese

More like "WTF?"

Or this:

[God luvs America]

I believe the film was shot in Iceland, according to the review I saw....completely serious

[BonnieJ]

My husband was in Vietnam, a decorated hero there at a young age, and he says you do learn to depend on each other and fight for each other, the big-picture eventually can get lost in the day-to-day fight for survival.

[Doctor Raoul]

The main plot line is that the nation was broke, and would have to sue for peace with the Japanese.

I've read a lot of military hiostory and I've NEVER come across that BS.

[Petronski]

I've read a lot of military history and I've NEVER come across that BS.

That's because, of course, it ain't so.

[R.W.Ratikal]

Forget the movie, it has little to do with the book.

Read the book, it has everything to do with a man's love for his father, who was one of the men who raised the flag, and who was a modest war hero who never told his family about the Navy Cross he received for bravery.

The book also deals with the non-bleeding wounds that some men suffer in battle that can't be treated but eventually kills, and of shirt-tailed kids who went away to war and became men.

The book's plot is not about the depression that started in 1929 or about Roosevelt. The story is built around how tough the battle of Iwo Jima really was. 6000 marines were killed in a two-month long battle securing this two-mile speck of black sulphur in the Pacific.

In a cemetery on Iwo Jima lies the 6000 Marines. At the entrance some unknown buddy carved a tribute to them on a nearby rock, it reads,

"When you go home
Tell them for us and say,
For your tomorrow,
We gave our today."

Cindy Sheehan, call your office.

[Doctor Raoul]

The final lines of the movie repeat the refrain from "Black Hawk Down," "Saving Private Ryan," and other recent war movies: Ultimately, they fought for each other, not for a cause or a country.

That is a Hollywood deconstruct. Piss on Eastwood, I've changed my mind about going to this movie.

[COEXERJ145]

As a graduate student focusing on WWII, I can say I've never heard that either.

That part of the movie doesn't pass the smell test.

[unspun]

Thanks. Aiming to see that Nativity movie. Also Flyboys.

[Stonewall Jackson]

I went to the first showing here in E-Town, and I think that nearly every person in the theater was either a current or retired Marine. I've never seen that many red Marine jackets in one place in my life.

There were two old men sitting beside me who were wearing these jackets. During the scene where the squad is getting ready to go for a swim, one of them looked over at his friend and commented that they didn't have white boxers, they had green. I don't know if this meant that he was there on Iwo Jima, but he was likely somewhere in the Pacific during the war.

[Seniram US]

I'm in agreement with you. No mention of even thinking of suing for peace. While the Marines were clearing the island, which the Japanese spent decades fortifying, the U.S. was preparing for a full thrust in the Pacific, once Germany was defeated, bolstered by the progress with the A Bomb. Iwo Jima, still under arguments, was required to gain a base from which to strike Japan and to give disabled planes a place to land. The thought of inserting the issue of suing for peace seems to me to be nothing more than a Hollywood stunt.