Reviews

Flags of Our Fathers

In the long storied career of Clint Eastwood he has been involved with a bevy of films that change the given genre. The Man With No Name trilogy changed the face of westerns and later in his career he brought a poetic silence to the genre with Unforgiven. He also brought a harder edge and the super cop stereotype to the police action film with the Dirty Harry series. Finally he changed the sports film forever with Million Dollar Baby by destroying any and all clichés that this particular category is know for. So I guess you get the idea that he did it again with war films.

Flags of Our Fathers is unlike any and all war films I have ever seen. For one this is the first WW II that has taken place during the battle of Iwo Jima, which was an extremely brutal battle, yet seems to be forgotten (6000 American lives lost to Japan’s 21,000). While the film does show a large part of the battle it switches back and forth to a few different parallel plots. The film is based upon the book of the same name by James Bradley and Ron Powers, taken from accounts of the surviving soldiers.

Firstly, after the battle has calmed down, the American forces are posting a flag to claim their victory and a well know photo is taken and soon passed around to any and all media outlets and becomes a symbol of hope to despondent Americans who are tired to a very long war. Soon after the photo becomes a sensation, the surviving soldiers in the photo are shipped stateside to embark on a goodwill tour to help sell war bonds.

The second plot deals with a man interviewing veterans about the battle for a book that he is writing, whom we find out is the son of one of the vets, yet the audience is not sure who’s son.

Eastwood has outdone himself again with FoOF. When I said earlier that there have been no other war films like this one I meant it. We already have the multiple storylines that do a bit of time jump, but we also have a very human and emotional side that has yet to be truly explored in great detail within a war film. Eastwood, with help from screenwriters Paul Haggis and William Broyles Jr., bring a quiet introspection and beauty to the film. We get to share a quiet and peaceful moment with the soldiers, though tense, mere hours before they embark upon one of the bloodiest battles in the last Great War. I felt a genuine appreciation and empathy for the young men and yet I didn’t feel manipulated into those feelings, unlike one certain 9/11 film. (Yeah I’m talking to you Stone!)

While the film mainly focuses upon the goodwill tour members made up of John “Doc” Bradley (Ryan Philliepe), Ira Hayes (Adam Beach) and Rene Gagnon (Jesse Bradford), the film also features war film veteran Barry Pepper with another highly satisfying performance. Other minor roles are filled by Paul Walker who is used sparingly and newcomer Joseph Cross (Running With Scissors).

Both Philliepe and Beach turn in excellent performances as soldiers who are reluctant to accept the moniker of hero, as well as being haunted with the war they just left.

The film is beautifully shot and is just as grisly and realistic as its easiest comparison the equally impressive Saving Private Ryan. I do have to laugh at the fact Stephen Spielberg is co-producer of this film and I can’t help but feel that while his WW II film was great, he was shown how it was really done by the masterful Eastwood.

After I got out of the film my first thought was that this was easily the best film of the year and, dare I say, one of the best films I have ever seen. I feel treated by the fact that Eastwood has a companion film to Flags coming out next year that deals with the Japanese side of the battle. I was already excited about FoOF before it premiered, and I find myself equally excited with the coming film.

10/10
George

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