FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS
Directed by Clint Eastwood
Written by William Broyles Jr. and Paul Haggis
Starring: Ryan Phillippe, Adam Beach, Jesse Bradford, Barry Pepper, Paul Walker, Neil McDonough, John Benjamin Hickey, John Slattery and Jamie Bell.

Reviewed by Clement von Franckenstein
Watson Scale rating (0 being worst and 6 being perfect): 5

Clint Eastwood has accomplished an ambitious left and right by completing back-to-back companion films about the fight for the Japanese garrison island of Iwo Jima during World War II. This excellent film will be followed next year by LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA which is the same story told from the Japanese side.

This wonderful film is brilliantly photographed by Tom Stern (who for two decades was Clint's gaffer on many of his films) in what I can best describe as green sepia muted colors that really gives one the bleak feeling and look of young men at war.

The Battle of Iwo Jima remains one of the deadliest engagements in Marine history, and the one for which the most Congressional Medals of Honor were awarded (27). The island of Iwo Jima was used as a vital warning station and airfield for Japanese air sorties. Twenty-two thousand Japanese troops were dug in there, and had built a labyrinth of connecting underground tunnels and caves to protect their position. The Americans began a huge air and naval assault on Iwo Jima February 16th 1945, and three days later the Marines attacked.

The battle scenes are brilliantly realistic, on a par with SAVING PRIVATE RYAN and give a close-up view of the horrors of young marines struggling through the black sulfurous mud and being mowed down in droves by embedded machine gunners.

On the fifth day, a flag is raised on Mt. Suribachi to boost morale, which was commandeered by the Secretary of the Navy as a souvenir. Colonel Chandler Johnson (Robert Patrick) is instructed to place a second larger flag on the mountain and Joe Rosenthal, a photographer from Associated Press, took the world famous picture of the six Marines raising it.

The American Government, desperate to sell war bonds to finance a flagging war, used it as a symbol of hope to boost the nation's morale. The three surviving men were Ira Hayes (Adam Beach), a publicity shy Native American, Rene Gagnon (Jesse Bradford), a wartime messenger who avoided firing his weapon, and naval medic John "Doc" Bradley (Ryan Phillippe) whose son James wrote the book on which the film is based.

They are recruited by the Government as a traveling publicity circus (the real life heroes from the famous photo), often re-creating their flag raising throughout the States to sell war bonds.

The film expertly switches back and forth from the battlefield (often shown in flashback) to the three soldiers being manipulated and blatantly exploited by the Government and the War Office. Adam Beach really steals the film as he wonderfully portrays the tragic, tortured, and guilt-ridden Hayes who hated being in the spotlight and often drowned his sorrows in drink, much to the chagrin of his army handlers. He dies prematurely, a broken man.

Ryan Phillippe as Bradley and Jesse Bradford as Gagnon both do sterling work but their roles do not have the arc of the Hayes role and hence become a little predictable.

Barry Pepper (so good as the young sharpshooter in SAVING PRIVATE RYAN) is excellent as the twenty-five year old platoon sergeant Mike Strank -- all the other marines were between eighteen- and nineteen-years old.

Neil McDonough as the tough Captain who sends them on their mission, and Paul Walker as a platoon member who gets killed, are totally believable in their roles, and John Slattery is perfect as the slimy P.R. man who plans and executes the traveling circus.

John Benjamin Hickey does lovely under-stated work as the naval officer assigned to look after the three Marines. There are excellent cameos from Judith Ivy and Ann Dowd as marine mothers, and a great turn by David Patrick Kelly as President Truman.

Clint Eastwood in his usual quiet way elicits top caliber performances from his huge cast, even the smallest roles are memorable and the sweep of the film is magnificent. Mention must be made of Henry Bumstead, Eastwood's amazing 93 year old production designer (he won Oscars for TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD and THE STING) who "died with his boots on," having just completed LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA. His work here is exemplary.

Credit also goes to Phyllis Huffman, Clint's long-time casting director, who did magnificent work in helping him cast over one hundred speaking roles. She sadly died before production was completed.

The film speaks to how easily people can be manipulated (witness the current administration), and besides being an admirable film, this is a great history lesson for all ages.