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FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS, Dir Clint Eastwood. 2006.

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Screened in sepia tint, the battle of Iwo Jima is recreated with particular focus on the famous photograph US soldiers raising the American flag on the island, and how it became a symbol for victory and patriotism.

The story is told by a writer who is trying to uncover the truth of the flag raising because of rumours that the photograph was set up. Two flags were raised; the second raising was photographed, so there were different soldiers in the picture than those who originally shoved the thing up the pole a few days previously.

It seems a flimsy reason to make an entire film but it’s a way of saying ‘the medium is the message’; the photograph meant victory to the US, and raised the hopes of a nation. The historical accuracy of knowing the identities of the first flag raisers doesn’t mean diddley-squat to me but I’m not a patriotic American.

Eastwood paints a realistic picture of battle but also aims a cynical lens at the political use made of the young men who were on the island. Portrayed as shaken by the fighting, several young men are plucked from the island to go on a fund raising tour round the United States, to masquerade as heroes, and encourage civilians to buy war bonds, although one of them says that putting up a flag wasn’t heroic. The platoon doctor is stoic and solid, the handsome hunk is simple and genuine and the native American seems to have post traumatic stress syndrome and has been driven to drink, which struck me as a slightly uncomfortable native American cliché but maybe it was true. I’m a devoted Eastwood fan but this one wasn’t for me; perhaps it’s a young man’s film.
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