Film - |
| Flags Of Our Fathers |
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Updated: Apr 30, 2008 |
Genre: Action, War, Drama
Duration: 2 hrs. 11 min. |
Director: Clint Eastwood |
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Starring: Ryan Phillippe, Adam Beach, Jesse Bradford, Jamie Bell, Ben Walker |
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Review: An insightful epic that recasts World War II through a prism of symbols and heroes, Clint Eastwood's Flags of Our Fathers is a visual treat, combining CGI with an old look in ambitious, thrilling battle scenes. One of the year's best films.
Based on James Bradley's bestselling book of the same name, Flags of Our Fathers is Saving Private Ryan meets Stand By Me. Buried in the collective national conscious, the Associated Press photo of six American soldiers raising a flag of victory over Iwo Jima is the basis of the film. Bradley's father, Doc Bradley (played by Ryan Phillippe in the film), who was one of the flag-raising soldiers, never fully shared the details of the experience with his son, but Flags of Our Fathers meditates on some of those unanswered questions.
The Iwo Jima conflict resulted in thousands of casualties, and image of the tattered US flag emerges as a symbol for American pride, while the five Marines and one corpsman who raised it are basically forgotten.
Heavy dramatics are saved for Adam Beach (Windtalkers) as Ira Hayes, the Native American Marine, who degenerates into madness. He represents the bittersweet languor of lost ambition and broken spirits.
Director Clint Eastwood brings his simmering restraint to the Flags of Our Fathers ensemble, as he guides his actors into finely tuned performances. From Beach to Phillippe to Paul Walker (2 Fast 2 Furious), Eastwood gets the most out of his young cast by playing them down.
Walker shows he can do a lot more than the usual brainless million dollar paychecks. Beach gives a heart-wrenchingly honest performance.
With Flags of Our Fathers, Clint Eastwood interweaves numerous themes into the movie,while avoiding the usual cliches of the war genre.
The film is historically credible, from the American perspective only, but Eastwood has also directed a companion piece, Letters from Iwo Jima, about the Japanese side, which hits theaters next year.
Complex themes of celebrity worship also give the film a post-modern, jaded, Iraq War-era vision.
Then there are the visuals. Eastwood incorporates breathtaking CGI shots of the fleet of warships on top of an old-style photographic framing, black and white and green, all washed-out. It's like looking at a scrapbook of old photos on a high-definition CD-ROM. Naturalistic scenes--sprawling in their panoramic framing, with cactuses and hills of black sand--remind us we're watching one of America's cinematic icons at work.
Flags of Our Fathers could be Eastwood's third Best Director Oscar.
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