Flags of Our Fathers
Flags of Our Fathers
was the first movie in a two-part series created by Clint Eastwood telling
the story of a single battle in World War II. This story looked at one
of the iconic images of war photography which was captured on that
battlefield and how it shifted the direction of the war, as well as how it
completely changed the lives of the soldiers captured in the snapshot.
Letters From Iwo Jima, which followed Flags into the multiplexes by only
a couple of months, looks at the same story from the side of the Japanese
enemy.
Ironically, the
more-difficult-to-sell Letters, which not only looked at the attack
from the Japanese point of view but was filmed in the native language,
captured an audience in ways that this more obviously audience-friendly film
did not.
Apparently Eastwood was not
thrilled with the muted, polite but not-overly-enthusiastic response with
which Flags of Our Fathers was met upon its theatrical release a few
months ago. However, I can see why this happened. Despite some very
horrific war scenes, the tone of the film in general is like that of a
museum display. You can't help but respect the men and the horrors
that they survived, but it almost feels like it is behind glass, hard to
connect with. Even the title has a wistful, nostalgic, tributary
tone.
Ever since his revisionist
western Unforgiven almost fifteen years ago, Eastwood has done an
impressive job of undoing much of the romanticizing of violence for which he
was greatly known as a young actor. Eastwood has to be commended for
having the bravery to make thoughtful, deep, but not necessarily commercial
films which deconstruct his Dirty Harry image, with the results fully
flowering in his last two features Mystic River and the Oscar
winning Million Dollar Baby.
He had not taken on war as
a subject previously during this career resurrection. In many ways,
Flags of Our Fathers is extremely trenchant to today's world, because it
is as much about the selling of a war as it is about the actual battles.
No matter where you come down on the political divide of the war in Iraq
(and Eastwood does tend to be conservative about most things, but these two
films show that he apparently strongly feels war is wrong no matter what),
you have to acknowledge that this was a war which was sold to us. For
better or worse, the weapons of mass destruction, the axis of evil, the
mission accomplished banner and Bush in the flight suit with a codpiece
this was all a war that was tested with focus groups.
Now I can't swear that
Eastwood is using the past to comment on the present. I don't know
what exactly his feelings on the current war are; other than his apparent
realization that all war is horrific.
Flags of Our Fathers
looks back at an earlier, slightly more innocent attempt to sell war to the
American public. It is the story of one of the most famous war
pictures ever. At the time of the Battle of Iwo Jima, the US entry in
World War II was questioned. A group of soldiers raised a flag on a
cliff on the island. It was decided that this image could be used to
sell bonds and the war to a wary public. Therefore they had the
soldiers take down the flag and re-raise it for the camera.
The battle and the photo
helped to turn the corner on the war for the US, but Flags of Our Fathers
shows that this day and photo were a curse for the six men involved.
Three of the six soldiers were killed during the battle. The movie
intercuts the horror of the battle with the three survivors' promotional
tour of the US. The army had them appearing at fairs, sporting events
and parties to sell war bonds. The survivors were acclaimed as
"heroes" which was not how they felt. They felt the real heroes were
the dead. It was a guilt that followed them through the rest of their
lives.
World War II soldiers
deserve to be honored and at the same time the actual wars be protested and
Flags of Our Fathers does do both admirably, but it tells their
stories with a certain distance and a bit of an agenda. Both are of
these faults are reasonable ones. While I agree with the politics of
Flags of Our Fathers and admire the filmmaking and the stories it is
telling, it's pretty hard to warm up to. (2/07)
Jay
S. Jacobs
Copyright ©2007 PopEntertainment.com. All rights reserved.
Posted: February 7, 2007.
