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Flags Of Our Fathers

Follows the story of six soldiers, who became famous via an ultimately iconic photograph. It was taken on Mount Suribachi, at the battle of Iwo Jima 1945 where American fought Japanese forces. It's the first part of Eastwood's duology, the second (Letters From Iwo Jima) tells the story of Iwo Jima from the perspective of Japanese soldiers.

To capitalize on the wave of sentiment the photo inspires, the surviving 3 'Flag Raisers' are pulled out of combat and sent back to the States to continue to serve their country – not on the battlefield but among crowds of adoring throngs, and as pawns in a government war bonds drive.

John (Phillippe), a Navy Corpsman; Ira (Beach), a publicity-shy Native American; and Rene (Bradford), a wartime messenger who avoided firing his weapon.

They tirelessly tour America as the very power of their image rescues the flagging war effort. But inwardly, they find that along with their friends and brothers felled in combat, a part of their souls will never leave the black soils of Iwo Jima.
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I apologise, we feel bad, but there's no trailer available. ~Ed.

Rating: 4 Flicks Review:

If you hadn’t heard already, war is shit. And while soldiers are paraded as heroes by their government and public, risking your life, killing people in the name of your country, and watching buddies die faced down in the muck doesn’t earn a soldier an easy life after the event. As re-iterated in Clint Eastwood’s 'Flags Of Our Fathers'.

When photographer Joe Rosenthal snapped a picture of US soldiers raising the flag on Mt Suribachi, during the fifth day of the battle of Iwo Jima in the Pacific, it become a symbol of America’s struggle and perceived triumph in WWII. It wound up on the front of every newspaper, and the three surviving soldiers where whisked back to the States to be received as heroes and head a government war bonds drive.

Rene Ragnon (Bradford) embraced his hero status. John Bradley (Phillippe) was more muted, struggling with scenes from the battle and his lost friends. And Ira Hayes (Beach) completely lost it, unable to accept being called a hero and embattled with grandma’s cough medicine. Ira has been depicted before in the film 'The Outsider' (1961) and in the song covered by Johnny Cash & Bob Dylan. He was an American Indian who whilst publicly a war hero, couldn’t buy a drink in his homeland (redneck Americans are to blame). He drank, and died at 32. His is the saddest part of the story.

The film intercuts between the battle (riveting, and shot in near black and white, Saving Private Ryan-esque handheld), the soldiers journey State-side, and John Bradley’s son researching what happened in present day. Too much intercutting. Why the intercutting? It gets annoying, you want to watch what happens next but instead we’re transported with a ‘clever’ cut to another time.

I was skeptical about the casting of Ryan Phillippe and other pretty boys such as Paul Walker. But it’s a stroke of genius in hindsight. Phillippe, with a churning inward performance, is especially great and his baby face persona only assists with the notion of these young kids being thrust into hell.

Parallels to the present US war are obvious – they entered the war and couldn’t leave. Financially screwed during the 40s, the government is dependent on selling war bonds. With a bit of propaganda and a willing public, they used the trio as celebrities to this end and - with a casual disregard - forgot about them after the war.

Is it good? Yes, it is. But while Eastwood puts plenty of his trademark grunt behind the film, like his most previous 'Million Dollar Baby' (also co-written by Paul Haggis) he can’t help being overly sentimental at times. The whole photograph centerpiece is an interesting angle, yet the film ultimately ends up a bit same samey. Intriguingly, Eastwood simultaneously filmed a parallel story about the Japanese soldiers. This film, ‘Letters From Iwo Jima’ will be released next year. [By Ed]

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Release date: November 2nd 2006.

We haven't received times for this movie in this location yet. However these are updated as cinemas announce them, so check back soon. Hopefully the lovely cinemas in your location will choose to play it shortly. ~Ed.