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The life stories of the six men who raised the flag at The Battle of Iwo Jima, a turning point in WWII.
Ryan Phillippe: John "Doc" Bradley
The film told from America's perspective.
Historical, epic and well executed but slow paced, perhaps disjointed, on the whole compared to Letters.
Glorifying heroes and putting the flag up symbolises victory.
Although it jumps back and forth through time to the actual landing at Iwo Jima, like its counterpart Letters there are very graphic scenes. The realities of war and the coldness and brutality are all shown. Good acting and well contrived cast but more of a history of the Flag than a proper War Movie. Clint Eastwood flick that is a tribute to the past...
Flags of our Fathers is an important film, but unfortunately, not a stellar one. The battle scenes are very well done and show the chaotic atmosphere and pace that follows a ground war, but it's the relationship and the manipulation of public interest as used by the media that the movie hits home. In a time where America is fighting two separate wars in Afghanistan and Iraq with veterans of Vietnam still being paraded on CNN every evening news to discuss comparisons, Flags of our Fathers is important in that it shows how a single picture or event can change an entire opinion over an effort that will cost young men and women their lives.
But where Eastwood tries hard, he tries mightily, to drum up any emotional attachment to the three characters. Haggis does his Crash best to have us 'tisk' at the consistent barrage of racial epithets thrown towards Indian descent Ira Hayes, but Eastwood fails to weave this sympathy and the sympathy for those left behind on the beach into an emotional punch that will carry us to the voting polls in the awards season.
The biggest dysfunctional hiccup with Flags of our Fathers comes with the expectation that the three major players in the production bring to the table. Eastwood in particular has stemmed together three films – Unforgiven, Mystic River and Million Dollar Baby – that each dealt with a person of people dealing with the emotional weight of violence that they were present or about to endure. The heavy handedness of Flags of our Fathers is be right up his wheelhouse. Add the brilliant writing experience and resume of Haggis and the movie should have been celluloid gold. Instead, we deal with waving veterans, moments of tenderness between the soldiers and the families of the dead they fought beside and the emotional burden of the horrors that surrounded them in combat without any tear tugging or tissue pulling on behalf of the experiencing movie watcher.
Lundsford: You actually chose the Marines because they had the best uniforms?
Rene Gagnon: No sense being a hero if you don't look like one.
Flags of our Fathers was filmed back-to-back with Letters from Iwo Jima which shows the Japanese perspective of the battle and is a moving mirrored story that respectfully gives the honourable view of the Japanese. While watching Flags of our Fathers, there are a few scenes of battle which feature in Letters.
Despite a very strong, moving story and some very intense and brutal war scenes featuring torture and death the one downside to the film is I didn't think the performances were as powerful as they could have been. It felt as though the cast and characters weren't as strong or important as the message behind it and that aspect is a little disappointing. Ryan Phillippe headlines the cast as John Bradley "Doc". Phillippe tends to be a little monotoned in his performances and I just didn't get a lot of emotion from his character. I think he'd do better playing a villain, although he hasn't taken those particular roles into consideration as of yet. His character is vitally important and a strong character but just not enough depth which doesn't help matters any. Jesse Bradford in a very off role for him plays spotlight insistent Rene Gagnon, who encourages all the attention surrounding the infamous flag raising picture. Bradford gets only a small portion of lines and really no depth at all which is unfortunate because he could have done something with this character.
''Nobody even noticed that second flag going up. Everybody saw that damn picture and made up their own story about it. But your dad and the others knew what they had done, and what they had not done. All your friends dying, it's hard enough to be called a hero for saving somebody's life. But for putting up a pole?''
Now the big exception to this slightly sub standard cast is fellow Canadian Adam Beach who plays Native American Ira Hayes. Beach definitely gets all the depth in his character that should have existed in the other characters. Hayes is met with constant racism from the battleground to the media spotlight. Hayes becomes an insatiable alcoholic from his desperate guilt in leaving his friends and fellow soldiers to battle. He feels this dedication to his people and to the country despite the racism. He has some heart wrenching speeches and moments in the film and hands down should receive an academy nomination for his moving performance. The supporting cast is who's who of Hollywood young up and comers who perhaps just didn't have the experience needed to carry the film. Barry Pepper, Jamie Bell, Paul Walker, Robert Patrick and the film lacks a certain experience to it in the cast. They needed someone top notch, a great actor (Eastwood himself would have changed the entire feel of the film if he had starred or even played a small role.)
Despite a slightly under written cast the film is spectacular. It shows such a diversity from the brutality of the world war 2 battle field to the hero worship of America that stemmed from the infamous picture. The extreme opposites the film takes you through really sends a powerful message that is unforgettable. I think this film will gain a cult following like many of Eastwood's films do and it should be appreciated for it's message and it's brilliant direction by Eastwood.
''This isn't just any island to them. This isn't Tarawa, Guam, Tinian, or Saipan. This is Japanese soil, sacred ground. Twelve thousand Japanese defenders in eight square miles, they will not leave politely, gentlemen! It's up to us to convince them.''
8/10
