Image courtesy of www.impawards.com
Director :
Clint Eastwood
Cast :
Ryan Phillippe”¦”¦”¦.John “Doc” Bradley
Jesse Bradford”¦”¦”¦.Rene Gagnon
Adam Beach”¦”¦”¦.Ira Hayes
Barry Pepper”¦”¦”¦.Mike Strank
Paul Walker”¦”¦”¦.Hank Hansen
Robert Patrick”¦”¦”¦.Colonel Chandler Johnson
One can tell the attitudes of a generation by the films presented about it, it seems, and the easiest mechanism by which the war film can be judged is by the war that is presented. Films about the conflict in Vietnam question the need for an “unjustified” war whereas the few films made about the first Gulf War have focused more on the absurd nature of combat in the 21st century. No matter which generation makes films about World War II, it seems, the attitudes towards those who fought Hitler and his ilk remains the same: it’s about honor and loyalty to the men one fought with.
From a modern war-film staple Saving Private Ryan, to The Big Red One and The Longest Day, World War II films focus on the bonds that unite men when they are called upon to fight. Ruminations on the nature of honor and heroism may abound, but the ties that connect soldiers to each other are perhaps what mattered most to the men who fought in that war. At least that’s the focus of Flags of Our Fathers, Clint Eastwood’s latest endeavor about the nature of heroism and how it affects three very different soldiers.
John Bradley (Ryan Phillippe), Ira Hayes (Adam Beach) and Rene Gagnon (Jesse Bradford) all helped to raise a second flag on Iwo Jima after a first one had been put up as a moral boost. When a war photographer captures them in the act, the picture takes on a life of its own and the men are sent back stateside to help raise money for the war effort.
Flags of Our Fathers has three main storylines running throughout the film. The fighting on the ground during the Battle of Iwo Jima and all three men participating in it in a series of flashbacks takes the bulk of the film’s two hour plus running time, as Eastwood has recreated the battle in the same gritty way that Saving Private Ryan did. The second is the three men on the fund-raising road, dealing with their newfound status as heroes while each handles it differently. The final plotline focuses on the modern day, as Bradley’s oldest child interviews the men whom his dying father served with, almost tacked on to give the film a narrative by which to finish itself.
It’s in the first two story-arcs where the meat of the film is located. Eastwood is meditating on the nature of heroism and how that status is assigned and uses the three men to show three different viewpoints. Gagnon was a “runner,” running back orders and whatnot from the relative safety of the beaches. For him, being labeled a hero is something he embraces as it makes him feel his participation in the battle was more significant. It’s a way to be somebody as opposed to the position he finds himself in without it. Bradley was a medical corpsman, using his skills as a combat medic to try and save the wounded. The label of hero isn’t something he embraces; it’s just part of what he has to do serve his country. The most interesting point, and the character Eastwood spends the most time on, is with Hayes. Hayes was on the front lines of the battle, having done and seen so much that he has a hard time handling it. He doesn’t see himself as being heroic or a hero in any sense, drowning himself in alcohol to try and handle his memories of the war.
It’s interesting how Eastwood handles these in his meditation on the nature of what a hero is; while the meatier role is left for Beach, it’s interesting to see a cast of relative unknowns mixed in with several recognizable faces (Paul Walker, Barry Pepper and Robert Patrick, amongst others). These aren’t known actors, nor can they be considered as anything but kids doing what they felt was right. The youth of the corps of men Eastwood uses as his soldiers makes the battle scenes much more poignant; this isn’t Tom Hanks and Tom Sizemore looking for Matt Damon, these are kids fresh out of high school and college answer their country’s call for men. It gives the film much more of an emotional punch that Flyboys lacked earlier in 2006; the men who fought in this battle seem more like soldiers than actors playing soldiers.
Flags of Our Fathers, then, stands as Clint Eastwood’s next great film. If he had never stepped in front of a camera, he’d have gone down as perhaps one of the great directors of our time. Having been one of the great actors of our time coupled with his directorial work, Eastwood has forged a legacy of great films in the zenith of his career. Count Flags of Our Fathers in as another gem in his studded crown.
