Review: Flags of Our Fathers

Directed by Clint Eastwood, Flags of Our Fathers, is a war movie based on the flag raising at Iwo Jima. It follows the soldiers who actually raised the second flag at Iwo Jima and how that impacted their lives. I love war movies and I had been waiting to see this one when it came out on DVD. After listening to the rave reviews and then Eastwood getting the Best Director nomination, I thought this would be one of those "must see" movies.

The stars of the movie really gave tremendous performances. The film focuses on three soldiers

The movie actually starts out showing the soldiers with their unit in Iwo Jima. It takes the viewers along with the unit into the battles for the island. It does show how close the unit becomes and how each one develops his own friendships. But when the three are whisked away to the States as heroes, their friendship takes a back seat to the fame and honors bestowed on to them. The movie though becomes hard to keep track of because of the flashbacks. It became hard to know who or which person anyone was talking about. Like for an example, at a reception for the three, Bradley talks with the mother of one of the soldiers he had befriended. But to me, it was hard to remember which one of the faces of the soldiers he was referring too. It was really hard to keep track of whose name went with what face.

Although a good film, it was at times just hard to really get into it. It seemed a little long in the sense of telling the story. I think all the back and forth from the flashbacks to the current time in the movie was what gave me the confusion most of all. It was really hard to keep track of and to stay with. I did think they did a good job on explaining the original flag raising and why there was a need for a second raising. Overall it was a decent movie. I would recommend the movie to my friends based on the important and significance of the events. As a war movie, it was a decent one.

Ryan Phillippe as John "Doc" Bradley, Jesse Bradford as Rene Gagnon, and Adam Beach as Ira Hayes. These three are the survivors out of the six men who raised the flag at Iwo Jima. The three come home from the Pacific and go on a national tour to help the government raise war bonds for the war. The tour takes it's toll on Hayes because he feels that he should not be on the tour and that the government has mistakenly named them as the three raising the flag while others go unnoticed. It is Gagnon who revels in the fact that they are famous and that they are being treated like war heroes. Bradley is on the fence about the whole thing. He feels good in the spotlight but is the one who takes the responsibility for Hayes and his drinking. Bradley, it seems, really does not know how to react to being seen as a war hero and not feeling like one. The movie shows how each of the men individually deal with being heroes as they realize that they are the last of their unit and their friends are still back at Iwo Jima dead.