115 - Flags of Our Fathers review

Note: This review is a bit better than the one published in the Northern Iowan. Sorry about the discrepancy!



"Every jackass thinks he knows what war is. Especially those that have never been in one," narrates an elderly World War II veteran at the beginning of Clint Eastwood’s Flags of Our Fathers. We’ve all been told that war has the capacity to taint and destroy everything it touches, but to those with firsthand experience, the armchair musings of civilians must seem trite and vacuous.

There have, however, been a number of great war films directed by men whose combat experience is limited to discussions with the props department over blank firing rifles. Eastwood’s newest film joins those ranks, an unusually thoughtful and observant entry into the complicated and important genre. It contains the usual battle scenes, including a landing battle with Iwo Jima’s Japanese defenders that approaches the intensity of Saving Private Ryan’s famed opening, but works most effectively outside of the combat zone.

It follows Navy corpsman, "Doc" Bradley (Ryan Phillipe), and two marines, Rene Gagnon (Jesse Bradford) and Ira Hayes (Adam Beach). They were pictured in the historic photograph of six Americans raising the flag atop Mount Suribachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima. The great snapshot resonates so deeply with the American public that the three are promptly shipped home to help sell war bonds, while the other flag-raisers lie dead under Iwo Jima’s surreal black sand.

Though they have exchanged bullets and bombs for fancy dinners, parades, and meetings with the president, things are not well. They can’t stand the outpouring of praise and labels such as "hero", which was won not by winning a hard fight, but by helping to erect a flagpole. Gagnon tries to levy his newfound celebrity to his advantage, with no success. Hayes, a Native American, finds himself having to field absurd questions about stereotypes such as tomahawks, while being unable to feed his insatiable cravings for alcohol at bars that don’t tolerate non-white customers. Bradley calmly and dutifully makes his way through the ordeal, while being haunted by guilt over the gruesome torture-death of his friend back on Iwo Jima.

Although appreciative, the men and women back home have been fed a whitewashed version of the truth of war. Though their publicity work may be important, at this point in the war victory over the Axis is assured, and the fuss over their role in the scheme of things feels hollow when thinking of their departed comrades. In one scene, they point out that one of the deceased marines in the photo is being confused with another marine, the head of the bond drive displays a blithe indifference to the facts, as all that matters to him is that as many bonds as possible are sold. As Hayes drinks himself into a state that nearly renders him un-presentable to an audience, his superiors berate him and threaten to send him back to the front, a proposition that actually inadvertently holds much appeal. Whether in battle or at home, the men are simply instruments to be used as the war machine necessitates, their personal feelings on any issue a moot point.

This portrayal of war, not just as the grinder of flesh but as the destroyer of souls, sets Flags of Our Fathers apart from other contemporary war classics. We’ve seen the bloody terror of Saving Private Ryan and Black Hawk Down, but this shows us much more. An occasional lack of focus takes the film off track, as the distinctly non-chronological narrative doesn’t always feel right, and the fight for the island lacks a flow that could have greatly increased the impact of the later battle sequences, but Eastwood usually remains right on target. The performances are great across the board, the cinematography beautifully captures the imposing glory of Iwo Jima, and the story never fails to be moving and sincere.

We may not be able to truly understand war without being in it ourselves, but we can learn from it, and if I’ve learned anything from war films, it’s that war is best left to those who have already had to fight it.

4.5 out of 5