Flags of Our Fathers
The story about the flag raising being posed was true. It was started, ironically, by Joe Rosenthal. He did not know he had taken the famous photograph until he returned to the States. He did, however, take a second photograph of the five Marines and one Navy Corpsman gathered around the flag. When people asked if he had posed the photograph, he, thinking they were referring to the second photograph said "Of course". It was only after seeing the first photograph that he realized they were referring to that photograph and not the second one.,In explaining the importance of a successful bond drive, the treasury representative says that the fuel dumps are empty and "our Arab friends only take bullion." At the time of World War II, America was essentially self sufficient in oil production and not dependent on Arab oil. While oil was discovered in some Arab countries before the war, it was not extensively developed until after the war.,[last lines]
James Bradley: I finally came to the conclusion that he maybe he was right. Maybe there's no such thing as heroes. Maybe there are just people like my dad. I finally came to understand why they were so uncomfortable being called heroes. Heroes are something we create, something we need. It's a way for us to understand what's almost incomprehensible, how people could sacrifice so much for us, but for my dad and these men, the risks they took, the wounds they suffered, they did that for their buddies. They may have fought for their country but they died for their friends. For the man in front, for the man beside him, and if we wish to truly honor these men we should remember them the way they really were, the way my dad remembered them.,There is an additional short sequence after the credits have ended.,Featured in Siskel & Ebert: Flags of Our Fathers/Keeping Mum/Shortbus/Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning/Jesus Camp (2006),Knock Knock
Written and Performed by Kyle Eastwood, Michael Stevens, Andrew McCormack and Graeme Flowers,Learning that Clint Eastwood teamed up with Steven Spielberg and Paul "Crash" Haggis for this ambitious project about the epic battle for Iwo Jima in the Pacific, I didn't know what to expect. The results are not entirely positive, but the film does offer spectacle of the highest order. The first part is the strongest with grandly filmed battle scenes on the island of Iwo Jima (filmed on the volcanic wastelands of Iceland), which constitutes some very intense film-making, impressively filmed and nearly on par with the battle scenes in SAVING PRIVATE RYAN. In the second part we get to see the men who raised the famous flag on a tour at home to raise money for the necessary war bonds, although the occasional flashback takes us back to the battlefield.

I must admit, this one has elements of greatness in almost every department, but somehow these don't quite glue together as intended. The film seems to suffer from three evenly strong-handed approaches. The script by Paul Haggis eagerly wants to take us on an emotional roller-coaster in the second half, where the focus increasingly shifts to the story of Ira Hayes in the aftermath of the battle. There's obviously a strong hand of Steven Spielberg, who always wants to show us the human side of the story, which Clint obviously wants too, but he tends to do it in a different way. There seems to be a clash of wills, with these three major forces at work here. Ultimately, FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS is not about the war proceedings itself, but how the war affected the men who fought in it themselves, and how they refused to be seen as heroes.

It's hard to dislike any of Clint Eastwood's films and with this one, and the follow-up LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA, he made two films of epic proportions, that will undoubtedly compete for the Oscars. Both of the films that is, as they were released by different distributors, "Flags" is with Dreamworks and "Letters" with Warner Brothers.

We'll see, so far, so good. I wasn't blown away by this one, but certainly a film to respect. Difficult to judge this, before seeing the follow-up LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA, which shows the Japanese perspective of the story. I strongly suspect Clint saved the best for last and that "Letters" will be his ultimate showcase.

Camera Obscura --- 7/10,