Clint Eastwood is a famous actor and respected director, but he also has a more subtle - and, arguably, underrated - talent for musical composition. For his last two films, Mystic River and Million Dollar Baby (both Best Picture nominees), Mr. Eastwood has insisted on composing the sparse musical accompaniment himself, a practice whose dividends continue with his most recent project, Flags of Our Fathers, a World War II epic that tries and succeeds, mostly, in carving out for itself a niche in this overcrowded genre that saw its most complete expression in Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan not so many years ago.
For better or worse, Flags is strongly reminiscent of that film for much of its running time, offering up the same grisly imagery, disconcertingly disorienting soundscape, and thoughtful meditation on the morally clouded and painfully human aspects of its "heroes." And indeed, it is the very concept of the hero that Flags works to explore, and ultimately to dispel, at least in objective terms.
Revolving around the iconic moment captured in Joe Rosenthal's 1945 photograph "Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima," the film eradicates any romanticized notion of the flag-raising as a courageous epitomization of American patriotism by revealing its less-than-savory exploitation by a government eager for some good news. The three surviving members of that motley crew are shipped back to the States for a shamelessly dumb tour of the country in a desperate attempt to raise $14 billion--"that's billion with a 'b'!"--for a dangerously depleted military.
These three men, the proud yet sullen American Indian Ira Hayes (Adam Beach), the nervous and eager-to-please Rene Gagnon (Jesse Bradford), and the stoic and wounded John Bradley (Ryan Philippe) are the lens through which we view the drama. They bicker, doubt, and are disgusted at what they do in service to the political machine, perhaps even more so than at the horrors they left dead or dying on the black sands of Iwo Jima, and in this they serve as a proxy for the viewer, though one sufficiently removed as to spare us the unspeakable sorrow that each carries with him.
Article comments
1 - SFC SKI
If you haven't read James Brady's book, you really should, it could only add to your enjoyment of the film. I hope to see this film soon, thanks for the review.
2 - Lisa McKay
Congratulations -- this review has been chosen as an Editor's Pick this week!
3 - JIm
I went and saw this last night hoping for an outstanding movie of the year. What a disappointment.
This movie just disappointed me so much I have sent emails to my entire address book saying skip it and spend time doing nothing. It is a better use of your time.
We live in a great country with 300 million people. We have a government and society people risk their lives to join. Yet this movie seemed to say to me government is and will always be bad. I guess in a society where Hoomer and Spounge Bob are hereos down playing the value of this flag raising is understandable.
If this single event, first or last on that bloody rock, inspired us to maintain the will to break the back of our enemy then thank goodness some politician wanted the first flag.
Very disappointing. I am in no way a flag waving person but I thought this film did us a disservice and would not recommend it.
jim
4 - David GR
I have not been this dissapointed by a film in my life. I had read the bood a couple times in the last few years, and the movie missed the point completely
I will not waste your time with a long review, simply put, if you think america is a great place, and you honor those who serve in the armed forces, you will not like this movie.