Released in the United States October 20, 2006. This essay contains spoilers. Please don’t continue unless you want to know key details about the film.
Essay Chapters
The War in Iraq and the Impact on the Opening Week
Cast and Crew
| Directed by | : | Clint Eastwood |
| Written by | : |
William Broyles Jr. (screenplay) |
| : | Paul Haggis (screenplay) | |
| : | James Bradley (book) | |
| : | Ron Powers (book) | |
| Ryan Phillippe | : | John “Doc” Bradley |
| Jesse Bradford | : | Rene Gagnon |
| Adam Beach | : | Ira Hayes |
| John Benjamin Hickey | : | Keyes Beech |
| John Slattery | : | Bud Gerber |
| Barry Pepper | : | Mike Strank |
| Jamie Bell | : | Ralph “Iggy” Ignatowski |
| Paul Walker | : | Hank Hansen |
| Robert Patrick | : | Colonel Chandler Johnson |
| Neal McDonough | : | Captain Severance |
| Melanie Lynskey | : | Pauline Harnois |
| Tom McCarthy | : | James Bradley |
| Chris Bauer | : | Commandant Vandergrift |
| Judith Ivey | : | Belle Block |
| Myra Turley | : | Madeline Evelley |
| Joseph Cross | : | Franklin Sousley |
| Benjamin Walker | : | Harlon Block |
| Alessandro Mastrobuono | : | Lindberg |
| Scott Reeves | : | Lundsford |
| Stark Sands | : | Gust |
| George Grizzard | : | John Bradley |
| Harve Presnell | : | Dave Severance |
| George Hearn | : | Walter Gust |
| Len Cariou | : | Mr. Beech |
| Christopher Curry | : | Ed Block |
| Bubba Lewis | : | Belle’s Young Son |
| Beth Grant | : | Mother Gagnon |
| Connie Ray | : | Mrs. Sousley |
| Ann Dowd | : | Mrs. Strank |
| Mary Beth Peil | : | Mrs. Bradley |
| David Patrick Kelly | : | President Harry S.Truman |
| Jon Polito | : | Borough President |
| Ned Eisenberg | : | Joe Rosenthal |
| Gordon Clapp | : | General “Howlin’ Mad” Smith |
| V.J. Foster | : | Major on Plane |
| Kirk B.R. Woller | : | Bill Genaust |
| Tom Verica | : | Lieutenant Pennel |
| Jason Gray-Stanford | : | Lieutenant Schrier |
| Matt Huffman | : | Lieutenant Bell |
| David Hornsby | : | Louis Lowery |
| Brian Kimmet | : | Sergeant Boots Thomas |
| David Clennon | : | Senator |
| David Rasche | : | Senator |
| Tom Mason | : | John Tennack |
| Patrick Dollaghan | : | Businessman |
| James Newman | : | Local Politician |
| Steven M. Porter | : | Tourist |
| Dale Waddington Horowitz | : | Tourist’s Wife |
| Lennie Loftin | : | Justice of the Peace |
| Mark Thomason | : | Military Censor |
| Oliver Davis | : | Young James Bradley |
| Sean Moran | : | Waiter |
| Lisa Dodson | : | Iggy’s Mother |
| John Nielsen | : | Senator Boyd |
| Jon Kellam | : | Senator Haddigan |
| Ron Fassler | : | Senator Robson |
| Denise Bella Vlasis-Gascon | : | Luncheon Singer #1 |
| Vivien Lesiak | : | Luncheon Singer #4 |
| John Henry Canavan | : | Jailer |
| Jayma Mays | : | Nurse in Hawaii |
| Yukari Black | : | Tokyo Rose |
| John Hoogenaker | : | Funeral Home Employee |
| Barry Sigismondi | : | Police Sergeant |
| William Charlton | : | Bartender |
| Beth Tapper | : | Bar Car Beauty #1 |
| Shannon Gayle | : | Bar Car Beauty #2 |
| Jim Cantafio | : | Reporter (in LA) #1 |
| Mark Colson | : | Reporter (in LA) #2 |
| Danny McCarthy | : | Reporter (in Chicago) #1 |
| Patrick New | : | Reporter (in Chicago) #2 |
| James Horan | : | Reporter (in NYC) |
| Michael Canavan | : | Reporter at Hansen’s |
| Erica Grant | : | Secretary |
| Silas Weir Mitchell | : | Lab Tech #1 |
| George Cambio | : | Lab Tech #2 |
| J:hann G. J:hannsson | : | Sergeant on Beach |
| Martin Delaney | : | Marine at Cave |
| Daniel Forcey | : | Marine on Beach |
| Bjˆrgvin Franz G“slason | : | Impaled Marine |
| Darri Ingolfsson | : | Wounded Marine |
| Sigurdur Hilmar Gudjonsson | : | Wouned Marine #4 |
| Jeremiah Bitsui | : | Young Indian |
| Nevin Millan | : | American Indian Congress Member |
Introduction
This was written in 2006, before recent scholarship revealed that two of the flag raisers were misidentified.
Flags of Our Fathers, based on the book by John Bradley about his father, John Bradley (one of six of the second flag raisers on Iwo Jima [Ed. – determined in 2019 that John Bradley was not one of the second flag raiders, just one of the first]) is a flawed, yet stunning epic with a lot of messages about masculinity, heroism, survival, and sacrifice. Using the same flashback device plot structure used in Saving Private Ryan, the meticulously recreated battle sequences are stunning in their size and scope and reflect a deep concern for historical accuracy. Flags of Our Fathers is recommended viewing for anyone interested in World War II history.
The Historical Setting
Unlike Saving Private Ryan or The Thin Red Line, or most other World War II films, this is a true story about actual American soldiers, no fictionalized amalgamations of wartime experiences. The two celebrated films from 1998 used true-life stories and created fictional elements from them, but this is the story of actual marines who lived and died during the thirty-five day battle for the eight-square-mile island of Iwo Jima, the first Japanese Home Island to be occupied by the Allies during World War II. Clearly, since most war filmmakers try to fictionalize the stories in their movies, true stories require a deft hand in control, to avoid being bogged down in the details and to simplify what is always complicated ñ the real life experiences of real people. Twice before, in 1949’s Sands of Iwo Jima and 1961’s The Outsider, Hollywood has fictionalized the story of the Flag Raisers of Iwo Jima. While both are considered classics, neither film dealt completely honestly or accurately with the grisly facts of war. Flags of Our Fathers attempts to bring the visceral experience of war to the silver screen to make a statement on what is heroism and what is purely survival.
When the landings on Iwo Jima began on February 19, 1945, the United States Marines Intelligence underestimated the strength of defenders, and didn’t realize they were faced with a new form of defensive warfare, more reminiscent of World War I than the mobile, fast changing warfare of the second global conflict. The Japanese commander at Iwo Jima, Tadamichi Kuribyashi of the 109th Imperial Army Infantry Division, changed the tactics from the previous commander, who advocated a defense of the beach, to extensive tunneling throughout the hot volcanic island. After allowing the Marines to land and build up some confidence on the beach, he unleashed his plan to deliver presighted, withering fire on the landing beaches. After four days of heavy fighting, the Marines had cut off the high ground of Mount Suribachi from the rest of the island, but failed to subdue the extensive interconnected defensive emplacements. With morale lagging and casualties increasing, the Americans decided to reconnoiter Mount Suribachi prior to scaling the mountain in force. The patrol was not expected to survive, but fierce fighting and superior air and naval support before their ascent had left the Japanese either too wary or too cunning to attack the patrol in force. The patrol was reinforced by
Most Americans at the time, and many still today, are unaware that the iconic photo taken by Joe Rosenthal on February 23, 1945 was of the second flag raising. Leatherneck photographer Lou Lowery, in images that were suppressed to heighten the impact of the Rosenthal photo, took many images of Lt. Harold G. Schrier’s forty-man Third Platoon, E Company, Second Battalion, 28th Marine Regiment, Fifth Division, as they ascended the volcano, relatively secured the area, and raised their small regimental colors. Immediately a reaction swept the landing force, and the battle paused for a moment on both sides while the flag was raised. The second flag raising didn’t even get noticed, as a larger flag replaced the first one, as the brass thought the first flag would be the famous one.
Joe Rosenthal, an Associated Press photographer who came up Suribachi with the reinforcements and the second flag, took several images, one just as the flag was going up, and another posed photo of the patrol cheering the camera with the flag behind them. He sent the photos to Guam and everyone on Iwo got back to fighting the war.
Using “corkscrew and blowtorch” methods also later used on Okinawa, flamethrowers (either on tanks or carried in dangerous, explosive manpacks) and grenades and satchels of explosives, combined with combat engineer bulldozers, either kill or wipe out the defenders of Iwo Jima. Less than 300 Japanese survive to surrender, most of those are either incapacitated or severely wounded.
Out of the six men who raised the second flag, three would die on Iwo Jima and one would be carried out on a stretcher. Only four men of the forty on the patrol would walk off the island physically unscathed. All carried emotional wounds. Two thirds of the 80,000 Americans on Iwo Jima are killed or wounded. 6,800 are dead, and over 22,000 American aircrew will land on Iwo Jima in emergencies, saving their lives.
The Photo
The power of a still image can unquestionably be more emotionally powerful than real life, even then the film that was shot at the same time. Joe Rosenthal’s photo was cropped by the Associated Press to heighten the focus, and with the Marine’s faces obscured by shadows or turned away from the camera, it could have been anyone who raised that flag, which undoubtedly contributed to its appeal. Rosenthal, who initially thought people were asking about his posed photo as he thought the flag raising photo didn’t come out since he didn’t have anyone’s face in the shot, at first told people he had staged the photo, thinking they meant the cheering men in front of the flag. But the combat film by Marine Gunnery Sergeant Willam Genaust clearly shows that Rosenthal didn’t stage the photo. This gave rise to a recurring rumor that the photo was faked.
Like so many other images taken during the war, the iconic image was the combination of a talented photographer in the right place at the right time to capture an incredible moment in history. The photograph, wired to the United States and reprinted all over the country while the battle was still going on, caused an instant sensation. The interest in the flag raisers in that one photo eclipsed all the other men on that patrol, many of whom died not knowing the reaction of their families and friends at home.
Of the forty men on that patrol, six made a spur-of-the-moment decision, without any real thought, to help raise the second flag. John Bradley, Mike Strank, Ira Hayes, Rene Gagnon, Frnaklin Sousely, and Harlon Block are captured in 1/400th of a second by Rosenthal’s speed graphic 4″ x 5″ camera.
The Bond Drive
The two main time periods of the film are the battle of February-March 1945 and the 7th War Loan, an auspicious and ambitious war bond drive with a goal of $14 billion. With the power of the Rosenthal image behind it, the bond drive was enormously successful, but at a high emotional cost to the three surviving second flag raisers. With the survivors of Iwo Jima thinking that the first flag raising was the historic and important one, and 6800 American dead, the three men were almost instantly pulled from a hell of broken bodies, blood, and death and pulled back into a world that had little knowledge or understanding of their experience. The film shows the three men as they relive their experiences on Iwo Jima through forced publicity for the bond tour, climbing a papier-maché Suribachi, and through flashbacks, seeing the deaths of their friends and comrades. Ira Hayes, suffering through what would be called post-traumatic stress disorder, cannot forgive himself for living when his friends are dead, and embarrasses the Marines through his emotional meetings with the dead flagraiser’s mothers and his public drunkenness. Hayes his shipped back to the units gathering for the invasion of Japan, while Bradley and Gagnon continue the tour, sometimes with the Gold Star mothers of the dead men. Harlon Block is misidentified in the photo as the dead Hank Hansen, and his family refuses to believe the press when they contact the Hansens in 1946 with the truth.
After the War
All three men, and others who climbed Suribachi, participate in the making of Sands of Iwo Jima, and then the three men and the Gold Star mothers of the dead men, including the correctly identified Harlon Block (but not the Hansen family) are present at the unveiling of the Marine Corps statue in 1954. Hayes dies soon after of an accident with alcohol related causes, and Gagnon is not able to build on his fame. Bradley never speaks of the war and builds a successful life as an undertaker.
The Film
Flags of Our Fathers rather clumsily cuts back and forth between flashbacks and flashforwards to tell its story. Like Saving Private Ryan, who limited its present day scenes to the opening and closing of the film, Eastwood tries, and fails, to weave a coherent story together, building on the time jumps to illuminate each scene. In addition, he changes narrators, and therefore focus, several times, leading to confusion among moviegoers. I had read the book, and I knew who was who and when and where the story was taking place, and I was sometimes confused and taken out of the movie at times.
By intercutting the battle with the events of the flag raisers” lives, Eastwood is hoping to avoid the plotline of Saving Private Ryan and other war films, which used an opening scene to establish a character’s survival, then the main act of the film, which shows the extraordinary circumstances of their survival, and then a coda or epilogue that shows the character from the first scene in a new light. Eastwood fails to track which character is the focus of each new scene, and with the narrators so close in tone and cadence, it’s hard to tell who is talking, and I would focus on who was speaking instead of what they were saying. It would have been better to focus on John Bradley’s son and his desire to solve the mystery of who these men were and how they lived and died. I understand that Eastwood was trying to build layers of discovery about these men, but it was very confusing at times and that lessened the otherwise emotional impact. Also, censorship is still present in 2006. A key subplot in the story of John Bradley is the death of his friend, rifleman Ralph “Iggy” Ignatowski. The film doesn’t reveal what the Japanese did. Ignatowski was tortured, the Japanese ripped out his fingernails, eyes, ears, captured him and teeth, cut off his penis and stuffed it into his mouth, and then smashed in his skull. Ignotowski’s death and Bradley’s discovery of his body is a key part of the film, but despite the presentation of combat in its gory details, Ignatowski’s suffering is only alluded to.
After the startling experience of Saving Private Ryan’s opening 30 minutes on Omaha Beach, the question remains how to convey the horror of war in a new and realistic way. Filming in Iceland, Flags of Out Fathers recreates the stark landscape of Iwo Jima, but I didn’t have the grip-your-chair terror I did with Saving Private Ryan. I don’t know if it’s because we are becoming accustomed to highly realistic depictions of combat, or if the combat portrayed in Flags of Our Fathers is just not as frightening, but it shares many of the same cinematic tricks that were introduced with Saving Private Ryan, including low levels of color, large amounts of haze, and lots of cinematic blood. However, the power of the Iwo Jima onslaught seemed muted somehow. As you can see in my photo gallery of the battle, the Japanese shelling was powerful enough to flip over Amtracs and tanks. An enormous amount of equipment was wrecked on the beaches. Perhaps my reaction was to the notable absence of Americans entering the Japanese tunnels (I can remember only two times in the film) to encounter and fight the Japanese. Perhaps it was the overemphasis on machine gun and rifle wounds, when Iwo Jima had a lot of mortars and artillery coming in that caused horrible wounds, only some of which is depicted in the movie. Flags of Our Fathers does contain intense combat sequences, but they just didn’t surpass Saving Private Ryan. I think because of the focus on wide shots during the combat sequences, combined with quick editing that doesn’t allow the audience to see the human realization of death (there would be a cut showing a bullet wound, but not necessarily the face of the victim or the people around them, the editing was just too fast.)
The War in Iraq and the Impact on the Opening Week
Eastwood’s movies tend to open with smaller initial grosses, and then stay in theatres with consistent business for weeks, but this film may fail earlier due to its subject matter. There are three ways to study a movie; Through the lens of the time it portrays; the time when the film was made; and the time you are viewing it. Films like Sands of Iwo Jima, even in 1949, celebrate jingoistic ambitions of the Truman government at the time, celebrating the victory over the Japanese. The Outsider in 1961 showed a growing awareness of native American issues and the cost of war, without dealing with the inherent racism of a white actor portraying a Native American, or revealing the horror of the war while creating a sense of self-indulgence in Ira Hayes without it.
Flags of Our Fathers questions the role of patriotism and heroism and the role of sacrifice and horrors of war as the United States enters the most deadly phase yet in Iraq. With no draft as yet, most Americans are able to turn off the news to focus on fluff pieces on celebrities. As many critics saw the influence of the Gulf War in this film, I doubt that many Americans will want to grapple with the questions raised in this movie as they consider the increasing human cost of the Iraq War. Personally, I do not see a hidden discussion of the Gulf War in Flags of Our Fathers. However, I can see that with the popularity of movies as escapism, people will not want to see the movie as any serious dramatization of war brings up some uncomfortable questions.
Historical Accuracy
Flags of Our Fathers is one of the new crop of highly accurate war movies, in the vein of Band of Brothers. The attention to detail is amazing, and the recreation of Iwo Jima is seemless with the computer generated images, of which there are many. As I said, the combat scenes don’t carry as much of an impact as Saving Private Ryan, but they are still powerful, even if they depict standard shell fire and bullet wounds instead of the rolling barrages that wreaked havoc on the landing beaches. Eastwood’s art department, undoubtedly drawing on the experience of the Amblin team that worked on Band of Brothers and Saving Private Ryan, has created costumes, props and 3D images that are extremely accurate. In my first viewing I could not identify any major errors of anachronistic equipment. There was an emphasis on the F4U Corsair, when many planes were Avengers or Helldivers in ground assaults,but that was minor and Corsairs were definitely present. A nice touch was the interweaving of actual combat photos that were recreated for the film many times, evoking a strong feeling of accuracy. The social history of the Fifth Marine Division was amply and deftly recreated. The interior of the troop ship was based on the last Haskell-class transport, USS Gage (APA-168) which a group of former sailors and historians is still trying to save.
Conclusion
Flags of Our Fathers is a flawed, but worthy achievement. It lacks coherence as it jumps around, and it has too many primary characters, and too much focus on some minor characters. If Eastwood and his screenwriters had chosen to focus on the emerging mystery of the Bradley family discovering that their father kept many things from them, only discovering what really happened after her died, it would have been a stronger picture. However, despite combat scenes that are generic and not particularly visceral, it is a faithful retelling of the flag-raising story, and perhaps the most detailed screen version to date. It is highly recommended for anyone interested in World War II history.
Pre-Opening Day Announcements
These notes were originally written in 2005/2006.
The first trailer, from Japan, in a combination with Red Sun, Black Sand was available. The Japanese title was originally Red Sun, Black Sand and was finalized as Letters from Iwo Jima.
A lot of these actors have played roles in WWII films before. Adam Beach was in Windtalkers, Barry Pepper was in Saving Private Ryan, and Jamie Bell was attached to a WWII movie at one point.
I was really looking forward to this movie, but I’m disappointed with the cast choices. Adam Beach and Paul Walker have a tendency to overact, and Robert Patrick needs a strong director (and god knows that’s Clint Eastwood) to keep him from chewing the scenery. I’ll wait to see the trailer, but these actors seem to be the safe, caricature choice, rather then hiring accomplished dramatists to play the role. Thankfully Barry Pepper is in the key role of Mike Strank, the squad leader, and he can act by showing internal emotion, not just screaming and ranting all over the place. Between him and Clint Eastwood, who never showed an emotion onscreen ever, hopefully this won’t be too poorly acted.
Also, these are the current crop of pretty boy Hollywood types. I would have preferred actors who looked more the part instead of looking for credibility for their acting skills.
I should add that this is a companion piece to what Eastwood was originally calling Red Sun, Black Sand. The same battle for Iwo Jima is told from the Japanese point of view.
My friend in Virginia escorted the crew of Flags of Our Fathers through the USS Gage (APA-168) which was at Iwo Jima but carried a different unit to the beach then depicted in the film. They are recreating the detailed interior of an APA (amphibious attack transport) using a set in California.
The Gage’s interior is in great condition, and the hull is better than it looks.
This large-scale recreation of the battle of Iwo Jima is collaboration between Clint Eastwood (directing) and Steven Spielberg (producing) is rumored to be coming in two different films, one with an American point of view and one with the Japanese point of view. The book the movie is based on was well-written, touching, and visceral in its portrayal of late war Pacific Theatre combat. This is on my list of top movies to see this summer. I hope the rumors are true – I’d love to see America deal with the war from a Japanese viewpoint. Also, I bet the soldiers look cold – they shot in Iceland for the black sand. Apparently they couldn’t shoot on Iwo Jima itself.
Author of the World War II Multimedia Database