Flags of Our Fathers (2006)

	Directed by: Clint Eastwood	COUNTRY USA GENRE Drama/War NORWEGIAN TITLE Flags of Our Father RUNNING TIME 132 minutes
	Produced by: Clint Eastwood Robert Lorenz Steven Spielberg
	Written by: William Broyels Jr. Paul Haggis

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
John "Doc" Bradley	Ryan Phillipe	½
Rene Gagnon	Jesse Bradford
Ira Hayes	Adam Beach
Mike Strank	Barry Pepper	½
Ralph "Iggy" Ignatowski	Jamie Bell	½
Hank Hansen	Paul Walker	½
Colonel Chandler Johnson	Robert Patrick
Keyes Beech	John Benjamin Hickey

Review

Clint Eastwood continues his calling to create deep, important movies. This time he has made two at a time, about the battle for the militarily strategic island Iwo Jima off the coast of Japan towards the end of WWII. Letters from Iwo Jima tells the story from a Japanese point of view, whereas Flags of Our Fathers has an American perspective, depicting the battle itself, but more importantly portraying the aftermath and effects of that famous photograph of six American Marines planting the Stars and Stripes on a peak on the island.

Eastwood's message concerns our perception of heroism and the politics involved in warfare. His position is clearly anti-war, and his film has an obvious parallel to the contemporary political situation in the world in general and in the United States in particular. Unfortunately, he isn't able to convey his message with much freshness or distinction. Not for the first time, Eastwood takes himself a bit too seriously, giving the film an unengaging combination of superiority and detachment. He isn't discussing matters; he makes it seem that he knows better, that his view is the correct one.

There are technical problems as well. The choice of intercutting the film's two timelines (one concerned with the battle on the island, the other concerning the aftermath, focusing on the supposed public effects of the famous photograph) does little to enhance either storyline. Eastwood jumps back and forth with a lack of vision and smoothness. And his choice to film battle scenes with an almost colourless palette is a cliché that borders on the counterproductive. The fact that the film is so preoccupied with being all-encompassing makes both storylines less engaging. In the end, Eastwood has introduced too many secondary characters and been too inconsistent for the film to come across as the thought-provoking message he intends.

Flags of Our Fathers deals with an interesting and harrowing part of history, but doesn't give it the necessary focus or relevance. The film is never bad; it tries to do all the right things, and it has some effective segments, but ultimately Eastwood tries too hard. It also doesn't help that he deploys mostly mediocre actors. I'm willing to bet a fair bit of money that Letters from Iwo Jima will be better. It often is fruitful to look at things from a distance.