FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS (DVD)

Director: Clint Eastwood (Star of Pink Cadillac, Firefox, Paint Your Wagon)

Starring: Ryan Philippe, Jesse Bradford, Adam Beach, Paul Walker

Well, now that I've seen both sides of Clint Eastwood's battle of Iwo Jima (along with the fine Letters from Iwo Jima) I'm certainly better able to speak about each. First off, it is not necessarily required to view these films in tandem. Each story is unique and works on its own. The films do show war through the eyes of both sides, but they are still unique creative works, each in their own right. The stories at times intersect, but only for the briefest of moments. I particularly like how, given that this first film was entirely about the power in our culture of the flag raising on Mount Suribachi, in Letters that great American moment was no more than a tiny aside shown far in the distance. There are a few other moments where the stories of each of these cultures run into each other in the battle, but by and large they are individual stories. They can be appreciated each as films each in their own right, but seeing them side by side still adds much to the whole experience. I applaud Mr. Eastwood greatly for this acheivment. Neither film was a masterpiece, but each was quite good, and taken together does give us something new in the world of cinema.

This first piece of the Iwo Jima puzzle, Flags of our Fathers, tells the story of Iwo Jima both through the eyes of a few American soldiers, but also through the eyes of American society as a whole. The story follows the handful of young men who raised the flag on top of Mount Suribachi early in the battle. They were immortalized in the now famous picture from Joe Rosenthal. This story is as much about how that moment and its photograph affected American society as the young men, however. The photo was an instant sensation back in the US, running front page on newspapers across the country. Seeing the power of the picture, the US government soon pulls the young men from battle and sends home to serve as pitchmen for war bonds.

This film (like Letters from Iwo Jima, and most other Eastwood films) defies easy definition, but its for certain that the story is straightforwardly about the power of symbols in American culture. Those symbols may be completely false, or like in the Rosenthal photograph, not nearly the whole story. To the American people this picture represented victory, but the battle raged on for another month or more. In the story, by the time the young soldiers return home to sell war bonds for the government, only 3 of the original 6 soldiers are alive. If you know your history, you know that that famous picture wasn't even of the original flag planted on top of Mount Suribachi, it was a larger, later replacement. Each in their own way the three young men who survived the battle struggle with their feelings on the power of this great (but in some ways false) symbol.

One of the young men (Bradford) is completely at ease with using the false symbol. To him, he just wants as much as he can get out of life. He sees the flag raising picture as a means to many different ends. More money for the war, more opportunity for himself. At the least it's a ticket out of the war. Another of the soldiers, a native American indian (Beach) struggles with the lies he is telling. To him, whatever benefit the war bond drive may bring is lost in the lies that are wrapped around it. He struggles with alcoholism and his own demons, this struggle for the truth is just one more. And finally Phillipe's character, who is more at ease and centered with the entire affair. He is a physician (a medic in the war) and as a prime drive wants to help others. The story is primarily through his eyes. These characters are archetypes and symbols in themselves, just as much as the flag picture, but they are well conceived and written.

The downside of the film is the missing magical entertainment value. For all of the great construction of the story, by itself and with Letters together, the film still was not itself great. It's quite good, but the story and characters were just not captivating. It's an eminantly wise film, an incredibly smart film, a well-written, well-constructed, well-conceived, well-shot, and well-directed film. But it's not quite great. I'm giving this film a B+, but there are all different kinds of films with that grade. Some are dumb entertainment done well. This is a smart picture that's very much worth seeing. It's not as entertaining as some, but it's far more worthwhile to watch.

Standouts: The story and direction were superb, with intense battle scenes and a smart plot.
Blowouts: The characters were a bit bland. The acting wasn't quite up to the level of the rest of the film.

Grade: B+