‘Flags of Our Fathers’
Clint Eastwood brings us a character inspired war drama based on The Battle of Iwo Jima and the men that raised the flag and inspired the world and became a patriotic symbol of hope, inspiration, and victory.
William Broyles Jr. and Paul Haggis adapted the screenplay from the book written by James Bradley and Ron Powers. As the producer, Steven Spielberg takes a step into the non-fictional world of feature war drama with Flags by telling the story of the actual men in the service and their families during that time of World War II unlike, Saving Private Ryan – which can be seen as an obvious inspiration during the battle sequences in Flags. Like Steven and his Director of Photography, Janusz Kaminski, Clint and his DP, Tom Stern, chose to portray the battle as a non-glamorous event by using handheld camera techniques, washing the color out from the sequences, and creating brutally realistic effects consisting of both practical and CGI. An example of great CGI usage in the WWII drama is the sequence when the fleet of ships is heading to the island of Iwo Jima and a small group of planes zoom past our main characters on one of the ships. Clint presents the audience with a panoramic view of the fleet of ships slowly plowing through the ocean revealing its gargantuan size. Then Clint presents us with a in-the-crowd POV with our main characters as they wave their hats and cheer on the fighter pilots as the small group of planes jet by at amazing speed. The sequence is visually stunning due to its size and factually stunning due to its detail. One example is when a man falls overboard and his friends laugh, joke, and casually throw him a floating device … as he continues to scream for help, his friends notice the ship isn’t stopping. A man then states,“They’re not going to stop. None of them are … they can’t.” his friends suddenly realize it’s the last time they’ll see him as he floats away into the distance.
The gore level in the movie is realistic and factual. For those with weak stomachs, don’t blame the movie, blame the effects of war for that’s what you’re seeing a glimpse into. One shot, I won’t mention which, pulled me out of the movie due to it’s hokey gore feeling – the type of shot that belongs in a bad horror movie. Maybe it will be cut – maybe not … all in all, it reveals my level of conditioning through horror movies and the use of bad gore. The shot captures the realities sporadic war and how you never know when a shell is going to land at your feet. Clint uses a lot of the sporadic casualties as a way to shock the audience. For example, a soldier will comment on someone’s death near the end of the movie, walk ten feet, suddenly a plume of dirt and smoke engulfs him as a bomb hits below him.
On the other side of this story, there’s the political crisis of bankruptcy as well as campaigning. The writers really bring the truth of the historic statue to the surface along with the characters’ feelings of guilt. The audience grows to love the character for who they are and accept them as an everyday man as well as a hero.
This is an excellent story and short history lesson that everyone can enjoy as an American, neighbor, or moviegoer. It is a notch in the history of film on war and deserves recognition by audiences for the fantastic performances, direction, writing, special effects, make-up, and wardrobe. For the little I knew about the event, I found the film uplifting, revealing, educational, and it moved me as a person who was served by those men in The Battle of Iwo Jima and as a moviegoer.Be sure to stick around through the credits in order to catch a quick glimpse of the memorial set up at the top of Iwo Jima were the flag stands.
CINEMA DEN 