Reviews by Matt

This is one of the most famous pictures ever taken. It captivated a nation and won a war. Except, that is not the whole story. The picture you see is actually the second flag raised over Iwo Jima. A general who wanted it for his den wall took the first flag almost immediately as it was put up. That is the basis of “Flags of Our Fathers.” Three of the six soldiers who raised the flag were taken out of the war and went on a nation wide tour to get people to buy war bonds. John “Doc” Bradly (Ryan Phillippe), Rene Gagnon (Jesse Bradford) and Ira Hayes (Adam Beach) are the three surviving members of the six that raised the flag. Gagnon gets caught up in the new found fame while Hayes considers the whole thing a “farce.” “Doc” does what he can to keep the peace between the two and spits out the government line of “buy more war bonds” because he has to.

The thing about this movie is that it’s not about the war, or the flag, or even the government propaganda that the picture became. It is about heroes. The end of the film is the point where this becomes clear. All thought the movie, the title of “the heroes of Iwo Jima” is used to describe the three soldiers. They hate the title and reject it at every turn. There is a narration in the end of the movie that says we make heroes because it is what we need. The memoir that the movie is based on is remembering the “heroes” as they want to be remembered; as soldiers who did their job. At the point of the battle in WWII, there was need of support in the U.S. and these three helped people believe that the war was winnable.

The story is some what fractured. It starts with the three on the tour for war bonds, and then goes to a point in the battle on Iwo Jima. Inter-spliced with the story of the three soldiers is the story of them in battle. Some of the battle scenes rivaled those in “Saving Private Ryan.” The battles are made all the more gritty and real by the lack of color in the film. The frantic camera movements add to the feel of battle and the uncertainness of not knowing where the Japanese soldiers are.
Coming next year will be “Letters from Iwo Jima” it will be the battle from the perspective of the Japanese. It will be interesting to see how director Clint Eastwood does with doing the same movie from different point of views. This is a good war movie that does as well with the feel of battle as others with one exception; it’s not about war. It takes place during a war, but that is not the focus. I loved this movie and highly recommend it to all who are interested in war movies



9 out of 10
Rated R for sequences of graphic war violence and carnage, and for language.
Runtime: 132 min