Flag of Our Fathers review

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#1

Have you guys seen Flags of Our Fathers yet? I don’t want to ruin it all, but I do have several things I want to share…

  1. Those of you who read my book review of this work of Bradley’s know I gave it a rather harsh one. It was a good book, but it had so much hyperbole that the whole thing was just over-dramatized. That characteristic, I suppose, worked well on the big screen. There were a few powerful moments in the film where I got a bit teary eyed, and I would imagine vets and vets’ families would feel it in their hearts.

  2. The order of presentation was changed from the book to the film. The book flowed mostly chronologically, but the movie used A LOT of flashbacks and it was a little disorienting.

  3. The use of a couple of type-casted actors isn’t so bad, because they’re good at playing military men. However, it’s wierd when you recognize them in movies about the European War. I almost want to ask myself “shouldn’t he be taking care of men in Easy Company instead of leading Marines on Iwo Jima?” :slight_smile:

  4. Special effects are never a primary concern to me, but they’re nevertheless important in this entertainment medium. I’ll tell ya, the naval bombardment scene was pretty damn cool!

  5. Finally, the movie didn’t tell you how Iggy died. If you’re interested, read the book, but be forewarned that it isn’t pretty. At the end of the move the movie had John Bradley say he hadn’t thought of Iggy for years. That’s purely fictional. James Bradley made it clear in the book that over the years, his father never forgave the Japanese for what they did to Iggy for his entire life.

I hope I didn’t ruin too much of the movie for those who hasn’t seen it…

#2

Oops, I just realized I made a typo in the subject. It should read Flags of Our Fathers, with the word “flags” in plural. Sorry guys.

#3

I’m sure it will be eventually shown here in the UK. I also take from your review that a lot of actors from BoB may be in it?

#4

No, just one. Just the guy who plays Dave Severance in Flags of Our Fathers, who played Buck Compton in Band of Brothers.

#5

Well, I thought the title was a bit corny, but it seems to be getting positive press.

#6

Why is the title corny? It’s a book about how the flag raising picture changed the lives of the 5 Marines and the Corpsman. The title is rather appropriate.

#7

The title is appropriate certainly. But it seemed a little sentimental to me, one of the big weakness in some otherwise great war films such as Saving Private Ryan.

But I have not seen this yet, but will attempt to this weekend…

#8

I saw it and I must agree that flash backs were used excessively. So much so that you had a flashback going within a flashback for a very good part of the movie, but there were several instances were it was a flash back inside a flash back inside a flash back.

The special features were awe inspiring. The scene with the invasion fleet outside of Iwo Jima was magnificent. Also, Mount Suribachi was amazing when it seemed to come alive with fire from the artillery.

All in all, I think it was worth the $8.25.

#9

Absent from history: the black soldiers at Iwo Jima

Nearly 900 African-Americans fought on the Japanese island but not one appears in Clint Eastwood’s Oscar-tipped film.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,1927787,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=12

#10

It is supposed to be rather sentimental story. This book is a journey through the emotional side of the war to find out why John Bradley had never talked about the “heroics” of the Battle of Iwo Jima after the war, bringing the tales to the grave when he died. If the title sounds sentimental to you, I think that’s James Bradley’s very intention.

This is a movie about John Bradley, Ira Hayes, Rene Gagnon, and to a lesser degree the other flag raisers. They did not serve with the Black soldiers. This is not to say the Black soldiers did not contribute, of course, but this movie simply wasn’t about them.

#11

I hoped that scene was louder. Some of those guns take 5 or 6 charge bags to launch a single shell. I’m sure the boom of the gun firing was deafening. Though I suppose Hollywood didn’t want to blow the eardrums of the moviegoers! :slight_smile:

#12

I decided to buy it on DVD instead.

#13

Would you really want speaker shrapnel scattering throughout the audience? :stuck_out_tongue:

Of course they’re not actually going to make all the guns as loud as they are in real life. If that were the case no one would go to war movies because they’d either go out deaf or have to use ear protection just to watch it :stuck_out_tongue: