In Review: Flags of Our Fathers
This review first appeared on my Movia Mania blog in 2006. I have moved some of the more interesting content here before I close that blog down. This is a slightly edited version of the original review.
Saw Clint Eastwood's new film Flags of Our Fathers tonight, and a mighty good film it is too. Utilising a cast of mostly unknown (or little known) actors, Eastwood has beautifully captured what I can only assume is the 'true' story behind the iconic photo of the raising of the American Stars and Stripes over the Japanese island of Iwo Jima during World War II.
However I did have a touch of 'Groundhog Day' seeing Barry Pepper in the film. Barry also had a role in Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan. Oh, and speaking of Spielberg, he was one of several Producers on this film.
But to the movie. The story begins in flashback, as we see one of the flag raiser's, now an old man, waking out of a dream he is having about the war. As the story unfolds we meet the young recruits preparing for the seaborne landing of Iwo Jima. According to the film, the fight for Iwo Jima constituted the first time the war against the Japanese was being waged on Japanese soil. Consequently, the Japanese soldiers were expected to (and infact did), fight to the very end to defend their homeland.
As you would expect, the battle scenes are well staged with the full force of modern CGI technology being used to great effect. But the film is not just about the fighting that took place on the island. It is really about what happens to three of the soldiers involved with raising the flag over Iwo Jima, and the toll this incident had on their lives. Shipped back to the United States, the soldiers are turned into heroes, and pressed into a different kind of service, raising war bonds to help finance the ongoing war effort.
Overall, I thought this was a terrific movie. However, the last 15 minutes or so began to drag as Eastwood struggled to quickly fill us in on the post war lives of our three survivors, while also showing in quick succession how the three other soldiers involved in raising the flag, met their end during the ongoing battle for Iwo Jima.
Highly recommended. Make sure you stay to watch the full credits at the end of the film. As the credits roll, they are accompanied by a stunning montage of photographs (including images of the real soldiers who raised the flag), taken during the actual fighting on Iwo Jima. One can only shake their head in wonder at the bravery not only of the soldiers, but of the war photographers who risked, and sacrificed, their lives during this fight to document the hell that is war.
Flags of Our Fathers on the Internet Movie Database...
However I did have a touch of 'Groundhog Day' seeing Barry Pepper in the film. Barry also had a role in Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan. Oh, and speaking of Spielberg, he was one of several Producers on this film.
But to the movie. The story begins in flashback, as we see one of the flag raiser's, now an old man, waking out of a dream he is having about the war. As the story unfolds we meet the young recruits preparing for the seaborne landing of Iwo Jima. According to the film, the fight for Iwo Jima constituted the first time the war against the Japanese was being waged on Japanese soil. Consequently, the Japanese soldiers were expected to (and infact did), fight to the very end to defend their homeland.
As you would expect, the battle scenes are well staged with the full force of modern CGI technology being used to great effect. But the film is not just about the fighting that took place on the island. It is really about what happens to three of the soldiers involved with raising the flag over Iwo Jima, and the toll this incident had on their lives. Shipped back to the United States, the soldiers are turned into heroes, and pressed into a different kind of service, raising war bonds to help finance the ongoing war effort.
Overall, I thought this was a terrific movie. However, the last 15 minutes or so began to drag as Eastwood struggled to quickly fill us in on the post war lives of our three survivors, while also showing in quick succession how the three other soldiers involved in raising the flag, met their end during the ongoing battle for Iwo Jima.
Highly recommended. Make sure you stay to watch the full credits at the end of the film. As the credits roll, they are accompanied by a stunning montage of photographs (including images of the real soldiers who raised the flag), taken during the actual fighting on Iwo Jima. One can only shake their head in wonder at the bravery not only of the soldiers, but of the war photographers who risked, and sacrificed, their lives during this fight to document the hell that is war.
Flags of Our Fathers on the Internet Movie Database...
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Labels: In Review
posted by Jim Lesses at
10:25 PM
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