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.
Directed by
Clint Eastwood
Written by
William Broyles Jr. (screenplay); Paul Haggis (screenplay); James Bradley (book); Ron Powers (book).
Starring
Ryan Phillippe (John "Doc" Bradley); Jesse Bradford (Rene Gagnon); Adam Beach (Ira Hayes); John Benjamin Hickey (Keyes Beech); John Slattery (Bud Gerber); Barry Pepper (Mike Strank); Jamie Bell (Ralph "Iggy" Ignatowski); Paul Walker (Hank Hansen). Please contact SFC to add other cast members and characters.
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Readers' Comments and Opinions
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Story not strong enough to carry the films.
Mark Banks (United Kingdom)
Opinion: Limited Recommendation
(Note: The following review is written for both Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima) I think it’s little questioned that the technical aspects of these films really are quite good, especially with respect to the battle scenes which, post Saving Private Ryan, every director appears to want to try their hand at. My over-riding criticism of the two films though is that I just didn’t feel there was a strong enough story there in the first place. In the first film Flags of Our Fathers, the basic story lines of who was there, who wasn’t there, and we’re not the real heroes, really seemed to be stretched to breaking point. Whilst in Letters from Iowa Jima the boundaries of sentimentality were continually pushed. The use of animals twice as plot devices to show the characters’ human side showed a lack of creativity with respect to writing ability. I felt both films had a distinct air of Eastwood melancholy underlying them and both failed to establish any clear message/moral from the stories. In addition to this I felt both films were the wrong side of the two-hour mark and could have done with some editing. I like the way Mr Eastwood attempted to show both sides of the story, but I can’t help but feel it all would’ve been better to package the whole thing differently somehow.
