Flags of Our Fathers (Widescreen Edition) Sale
Buy Flags of Our Fathers (Widescreen Edition). From Academy Award-winning director Clint Eastwood (Million Dollar Baby, Unforgiven) comes the World Was II epic Flags of Our Fathers, produced by Eastwood, Academy Award winner Steven Spielberg (Saving Private Ryan, Schindler’s List), and Rob Lorenz (Mystic River), and from a screenplay adapted by William Broyles, Jr. (Cast Away) and Oscar winner Paul Haggis (Million Dollar Baby, Crash).
February 1945. Even as victory in Europe was finally within reach, the war in the Pacific raged on. One of the most crucial and bloodiest battles of the war was the struggle for the island of Iwo Jima, which culminated with what would become one of the most iconic images in history: five Marines and a Navy corpsman raising the American flag on Mount Suribachi. The inspiring photo capturing that moment became a symbol of victory to a nation that had grown weary of war and made instant heroes of the six American soldiers at the base of the flag, some of whom would die soon after, never knowing that they had been immortalized. But the surviving flag raisers had no interest in being held up as symbols and did not consider themselves heroes; they wanted only to stay on the front with their brothers in arms who were fighting and dying without fanfare or glory.
Flags of Our Fathers is based on the bestselling book by James Bradley with Ron Powers, which chronicled the battle of Iwo Jima and the fates of the flag raisers and some of their brothers in Easy Company. Bradley’s father, John "Doc" Bradley, was one of the soldiers pictured raising the flag, although James never knew the full extent of his father’s experiences until after the elder Bradley’s death in 1994.
Thematically ambitious and emotionally complex, Clint Eastwood's Flags of Our Fathers is an intimate epic with much to say about war and the nature of heroism in America. Based on the non-fiction bestseller by James Bradley (with Ron Powers), and adapted by Million Dollar Baby screenwriter Paul Haggis (Jarhead screenwriter William Broyles Jr. wrote an earlier draft that was abandoned when Eastwood signed on to direct), this isn't so much a conventional war movie as it is a thought-provoking meditation on our collective need for heroes, even at the expense of those we deem heroic. In telling the story of the six men (five Marines, one Navy medic) who raised the American flag of victory on the battle-ravaged Japanese island of Iwo Jima on February 23rd, 1945, Eastwood takes us deep into the horror of war (in painstakingly authentic Iwo Jima battle scenes) while emphasizing how three of the surviving flag-raisers (played by Adam Beach, Ryan Phillippe, and Jesse Bradford) became reluctant celebrities – and resentful pawns in a wartime publicity campaign – after their flag-raising was immortalized by Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal in the most famous photograph in military history.
As the surviving flag-raisers reluctantly play their public roles as "the heroes of Iwo Jima" during an exhausting (but clearly necessary) wartime bond rally tour, Flags of Our Fathers evolves into a pointed study of battlefield valor and misplaced idolatry, incorporating subtle comment on the bogus nature of celebrity, the trauma of battle, and the true meaning of heroism in wartime. Wisely avoiding any direct parallels to contemporary history, Eastwood allows us to draw our own conclusions about the Iwo Jima flag-raisers and how their postwar histories (both noble and tragic) simultaneously illustrate the hazards of exploited celebrity and society's genuine need for admirable role models during times of national crisis. Flags of Our Fathers defies the expectations of those seeking a more straightforward war-action drama, but it's richly satisfying, impeccably crafted film that manages to be genuinely patriotic (in celebrating the camaraderie of soldiers in battle) while dramatizing the ultimate futility of war. Eastwood's follow-up film, Letters from Iwo Jima, examines the Iwo Jima conflict from the Japanese perspective. --Jeff Shannon
Beyond Flags of Our Fathers
Other World War II DVDs | 
Essential DVDs by Director Clint Eastwood | 
Flags of Our Fathers by James Bradley |
Stills from Flags of Our Fathers (click for larger image)
Flags of Our Fathers (Widescreen Edition) Review
At the start of Flags of Our Fathers, it opens up with a man narrating, and he has this to say: "Every jack@$$ thinks he knows what war is, especially those who've never been in one". That's just one of the many great points made in Flags of Our Fathers, a highly underrated war film about the Battle of Iwo Jima. This is also kind of a misunderstood movie to me, and even labeled by some people as cliched. Whether or not this is true, few war movies have made the difference between the public and the private so appealing and interesting. This is no ordinary American war film. As Richard Roeper puts it, "Flags of Our Fathers is a patriotic film in that it honors those who fought in the Pacific, but it is also patriotic because it questions the official version of the truth, and reminds us that superheroes exist only in comic books and cartoon movies".
The attack on Mount Surabachi is the backdrop for this film, as this film does a good job focusing on what it meant to America, which was probably not that much (the battle itself arguably meant much more for the Japanese, and it is the entire focus of the movie). The majority of the movie instead focuses on the lives of soldiers, and the most common theme is, in my opinion, the clashing of perceptions, ad the grim realities of war vs the idealism of the average American patriot. The movie follows seven Marines, from the beginning of the battle, to the inside of the battle, and the aftermath where they wade through a sea of ignorant people, from exploitive government people who want to use their exploits to make money, to the citizens who celebrate while not understanding the full force and just how ignorant it is to treat a few survivors as THE heroes. Along the way, many situations come and go, and they bring up all kinds of questions to ponder regarding war, similar to other war movies like SPR, Full Metal Jacket, Paths of Glory, and Platoon, like all war movies should.
Showing the difference between war-washed people and ignorant civilians is nothing new in war movies. The Deer Hunter is one that did the same thing 30 or so years ago, and Platoon is a ride from the ignorant to the war-washed, and so is Private Joker from Full Metal Jacket (his urge to get back into action ends in him getting the thousand-yard stare and a speech out the world of ______). However, Flags of Our Fathers does such a great job at portaying this type of feeling. Through flashbacks, narrations, and other story telling devices, we get the sense of what these men go through, and how people laud them as the war hero. I like how the movie does a great job of what it's like to see people getting slaughtered in your mind, all while you look across a crowd of rallying, ignorant, smiling Americans waving flags. It effectivley shows what it's like to be haunted by something, especially for those who go upon daily life amongst people who's idea of a horrible day is failing their test because they put it off to the last minute (college students ha ha).
The battle scenes in Flags of our Fathers aren't among the best, and I think they are even somewhat tepid compared to say, Private Ryan. The sound design, cinematography and editing is inferior to the best combat scenes, and the kills just don't seem as brutal, as harsh. Not to mention one of those entirely lame shots where the decapitated head of a soldier is randomly shown. Those shots are just stupid and meant to just shock, and they NEVER WORK. I will probably never see the battle scenes up in the same place as even the trench warfare scene in Paths of Glory (I think that;s a very good scene despite the obviously phony explosions), and that's simply because they aren't. Fortunately, this movie has more to offer than battle scenes (and don't get me wrong, the battle scenes are actually pretty good). And the pain came from within, and it is shown in Letters From Iwo Jima a lot more (the suicide grendae scene always has me jerking my head away every time). So don't think I'm knocking them that much.
Clint Eastwood's Direction is great too, sometimes high gloss when you get back from camp but its a good contrast compared to the battle scenes, which are not as gritty as they should be (I think the color desaturation should be applied like they were in Private Ryan for every battle scene that deals with WW2) but still pretty dang effective. Probably the most memorable scene for me is the scene right before the battle, where the lights are dimmed out on the ship and one of those old fashioned French or German (I'm not sure what, since I can't really tell the different between the languages) songs plays in the dark of it. I don't now why, but these scenes using foreign pop songs always work. I feel the exact same way with the Edith Piaf scene from Saving Private Ryan and the scene in the tavern from Inglourious Basterds (though the latter obviously has less intimacy and adds to the period atmosphere).
Ever since the success of war film giant Saving Private Ryan, the war film genre has had the opportunity to be more realistic, and it's brought us some of the best war films the genre has scene, including SPR and Black Hawk Down. Clint Eastwood's Iwo Jima duo, while not my favorite among war movies, shows Eastwood really doing something a bit, especially being American. He could have made a cookie cutter film that climaxes with sentimental music where they put the flag in and it freeze frames into the picture. However, Eastwood questioned patriotism and focused on what it's like to be a soldier (and what the ignorant public doesn't know while celebrating with a gun-ho patriotic rally), and even made a companion film, and even had to gal to show what it's like for the other side. Surely it wasn't just the Americans that lost something, and Eastwood respected that notion. Good for him. While Eastwood's war films will not be ranked as the best war films of all time, it's one of the finest the war film genre has turned out in a while, while some war films these days just aren't (2009's massively overrated Hurt Locker comes to mind. The backlash this one is getting speaks some mind).
But then again, what do I know? I'm Just a jack@$$. You can buy
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