Considering how familiar the image of six Marines raising the flag over Iwo Jima is, it’s surprising how little most Americans know about the 1945 battle for the tiny island or about the men in the picture. As the nation finds itself embroiled in war in Iraq, it is more than time we reconsidered such epic struggles from the past, if only to help understand who we are as a people and where we should be headed.

Some Americans already know more about the Iwo Jima story, thanks to books like Flags of Our Fathers, the best-seller from a few years ago by James Bradley, whose late father was one of the men in the picture, and Ron Powers. Coming this week, the story will become more familiar to many more people, as it is retold on the big screen in a film of the same name from award-winning director Clint Eastwood.

In recent interviews, it is clear that Eastwood is well aware of the complexity of his topic. Although the photograph still stirs a feeling of old-fashioned patriotism for many people, the story behind the picture is more complex than it may seem. The month-long battle to take Iwo Jima led to devastating causalities.

Thousands of American soldiers died on the tiny Pacific island in February and March of 1945. It was a costly victory. Washington realized the power a convincing image would have to help shore up morale in such dire circumstances. It seized on the opportunity to capture the famous Iwo Jima image as part of its campaign to rally support for what would be the final months of the war.

The photo of Iwo Jima, and others of that era, are perhaps some of the last images from war about which there remains a strong national consensus. A generation later, the Vietnam War also produced very memorable pictures, as the new book The Afterlife of America’s War in Vietnam reminds us. Many of these images are filled with ambiguity. Some Vietnam War photos depict outright horrific scenes.

More recently, the Gulf War produced relatively few memorable images (understandable, given its short duration), practically none of which have entered our collective visual memory. It remains to be seen which images from the War in Iraq will be provoke the most lasting memories.

If Eastwood’s previous directorial efforts are any indication, Flags of Our Fathers will be an intelligent, well-crafted movie. That alone is reason enough to see a film these days. If Eastwood’s movie also causes us to stop and think about the story behind the famous image and about the state of our world today, then so much the better.

The DreamWorks SKG production of Flags of Our Fathers opens October 20.