Release Date: 20 October 2006 in USA
Rated: Rated R for sequences of graphic war violence and carnage, and for language.
Runtime: 132
Genres: Drama, History, War
Director: Clint Eastwood
Cast: Ryan Phillippe, Jesse Bradford, Adam Beach, John Benjamin Hickey, John Slattery, Barry Pepper
One of the most celebrated movies of 2006 is now available on DVD for your viewing pleasure. The widely acclaimed film Flags of Our Fathers, from acclaimed director Clint Eastwood, is now available to the home viewer, in both full screen and widescreen formats.
Clint Eastwood’s Flags of Our Fathers has been hailed by critics from around the country and around the world as one of the most ambitious, and one of the most moving, of war epics. This unique and deeply touching film is epic in scope, with the stories are told with a great deal of emotion, making the film a deeply personal one as well. This epic achievement has a great deal to say about the nature of war, and about the nature of heroism, and these important lessons translate well to the world in which we live today.
Flags or Our Fathers is based on the highly acclaimed bestselling nonfiction book by James Bradley and Ron Powers, and it has been adapted by screenwriter Paul Haggis, who also wrote the screenplay for Eastwood’s Million Dollar Baby. The strong writing skills are clearly evident in the script, making Flags of Our Fathers one of the strongest films of 2006.
It is important to note that Flags of Our Fathers is not the typical war movie. Rather it is a thought provoking and deeply moving reflection on the nature of conflict, and on our need for heroes. This collective need for heroism is shown to at times have a negative impact on the very people we deem to be our heroes, making this film of a different piece than earlier World War II war epics.
Flags of Our Fathers tells the story of the six men, five of them Marines and the sixth a Navy medic, who raised the American Flag on the battle ravaged island of Iwo Jima on February 23, 1945. This historic flag raising is perhaps the most famous and well documented in history, but it is given new weight and new impact through this exceptional retelling.
The movie emphasizes how three of the surviving men from that flag raising became reluctant celebrities, and how they came to resent their roles as pawns in a wartime publicity campaign. These three men, played in the film by Adam Beach, Jesse Bradford and Ryan Phillippe, present a conflicted view of heroism, and their personal struggle is one of the things that makes this film so special and so memorable.
Flags of Our Fathers is one of those rare films that is able to shed new light on a well known event. As the movie tells the personal stories of these famous men, it evolves from a wartime epic to a personal study of bravery on the battlefield and our sometimes misplaced sense of heroism and idolatry. The film also incorporates subtle but unmistakable commentary on such disparate subjects as the nature of celebrity and idol worship, the power of propaganda and the true meaning of heroism. While the film deliberately avoids introducing parallels to the modern world, the lessons it presents about the nature of honor and the horror of warfare, are universal. This is truly a must see film, and one that will be talked about and debated for many generations to come.
