Movie review: Flags of our Fathers.

[JamesK840]

Can't help but wonder what the gay porno version of that title will be...

 

Anyway, it was a movie. It was not quite an epic war movie of the type that Spielberg/Hanks had been doing. Clint Eastwood is more about people's stories then anything else, and it shows. The movie is not about the war, it's not about the Marines, it's not even really about the battle of Iwo Jima...

 

Instead it's about that photograph. The story of how it happened and a deep look into it's effect on the people who were in it.

 

I didn't realize that there was a point in America where support for WWII was declining, nor did I realize the importance of war bonds (it's really too bad we moved away from a system that required the public's active support of a long-term war...). But those are just footnotes to the story of the two Marines and one Navy corpsman, the only 3 of the 6 in the picture to survive the battle (which went on quite a while after that photo was taken).

 

It's an interesting story. (Maybe without the inconsiderate breeders bringing their whiny little hell spawn to an R rated movie and letting him run loose the whole time as if it was their living room I would have gotten into it more...)

 

But it is simply is not the epic it trys to be. t's no Saving Private Ryan and it's certainly no Band of Brothers. We Were Soldiers (except for the stupid montage) and even Pearl Harbor (if you cut out EVERY scene involving the Affleck love triangle) are actually both better movies about their wars and the forces they follow. Yet this may be the deepest anybody has tried to show the impact on individual soldiers. Unfortunately it only really develops the 3 which the movie is about, so it stumbles when it goes for sentimentality over soldiers who maybe had 6 lines and were nigh-indistinguishable from any of the others.

 

It's certainly worth seeing if you're interested in WWII or the military... That is, unless you haven't already seen Band of Brothers. If that's the case RUN to the store to buy/rent (buy) Band of Brothers; don't bother with Flags until it's on DVD.

 

Flags of our Fathers is an interesting enough story, but I'm more interested in it's sister piece, due out next year, about the battle from the Japanese perspective. And I still think the definitive Marine epic has yet to be made, perhaps the story of the Ia Drang valley in Korea...

[+ deej]

>Instead it's about that photograph. The story of how it happened

>and a deep look into it's effect on the people who were in it.

 

Interesting. I was under the impression that that is exactly what it was about. What gave you a different impression?

 

Out of curiosity, would your reaction have been different had you known that up front? IOW, how much of your response is coming from the wrong expectation going in?

[EXPAT]

I really enjoyed the movie. It's my second favorite movie of the year so far (behind "The Departed").

[JamesK840]

>Interesting. I was under the impression that that is exactly

>what it was about. What gave you a different impression?

>

>Out of curiosity, would your reaction have been different had

>you known that up front? IOW, how much of your response is

>coming from the wrong expectation going in?

 

I had heard reviews saying it is more about the photograph and the people in it than an analog of Saving Private Ryan. But it felt to me like it really tries to be the epic it's not... It has all these massive scenes almost like the Ryan opening, but dances around actually telling you anything about the battle itself, or getting you to understand the unit's mission or to care about the other people in it. As such there's very little impact to what happens to the other members of the unit.

 

I think there could have been a better, more focused movie about the photograph, and there certainly could have been a better movie about the battle. Flags of our Fathers really tries to straddle those two things, and I don't think it does a great job of it.

 

But as I said, it is interesting and maybe I would have gotten into it more if my theater experience hadn't been shite. I CAN see somebody saying it's one of the best movies in a while, but I think that has more to do with the quality of movies coming out lately then the quality of this one.

[JamesK840]

>I really enjoyed the movie. It's my second favorite movie of

>the year so far (behind "The Departed").

 

I still want to see "The Departed". Have you seen the Hong Kong original, "Infernal Affairs"? It's great.

 

Here's the thing for me about "Flags", when I left the movie I'd been entertained but had no interest in finding out any more about the story. When I left both "Black Hawk Down" and "We Were Soldiers" I walked directly over to the book store, bought the books, and found them fascinating.

[JamesK840]

Not Ia Drang.

 

Ia Drang is the battle the Army's First Cav. fought in Vietnam, featured in the book "We Were Soldiers Once, and Young".

 

The massive Marine battle in Korea (when China entered the war), which I think would make a hell of a movie, was the Chosin Reservoir.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Chosin_Reservoir

[Uncle Bill]

RE: Not Ia Drang.

 

There actually was a movie done on Chosin in the late 50's I think -- used to love watching it as a kid. I believe that the title was "Retreat, Hell" -- a reference to the quotation/mis-quotation, and centerd on the 1st Marine Division. Not a great movie by today's standards, but it isn't too bad for it's era. Thanks for the Wikipedia link.