Flags of Our Fathers review

 Flags of our Fathers (FOOF) accompanies Letters from Iwo Jima (LFIJ.) Having seen the latter companion film first, it only made sense to watch this film too.

John "Doc" Bradley (Ryan Philippe,) Ira Hayes (Adam Beach) and Rene Gagnon (Jesse Bradford) are three of the six men who raised the flag on the Japanese island of Iwo Jima, on day five of the American's successful invasion, during the last few months of WW2. When their three colleagues subsequently die, Doc, Hayes and Gagnon are sent back home to raise money for the war effort. However, none of the three see themselves as heroes.

FOOF and LFIJ have their similarities. They tell similar stories from different perspectives and they're both directed by Clint Eastwood. However, LFIJ made it onto the top 1000 films of all time whereas FOOF didn't. LFIJ was subtle, nuanced and complex, but FOOF had all the subtlety of a sledge-hammer to the face.

A lot of that was down to the writing. FOOF was penned by Paul Haggis who also wrote the less-than-subtle Crash. It is no secret that the US treats it veterans appallingly. Sure when they're winning wars, the US is happy to spend billions on them, but as soon as they return home with PTSD and missing limbs, all that support evaporates. Just look at how many homeless veterans litter the streets of the USA.

Although this was an important point to address, it was far too on the nose. These three PTSD-suffering veterans are forced to raise money for a cause they no longer believe in. They're made to re-enact the flag-planting on a giant papier-mache mock-up of Mount Suribachi in front of a stadium of fans. This was supposed to be a comment on how badly military veterans are being exploited, but the real kicker, for me, came when the veterans were given little marble replicas of their flag-raising effort accompanied by either chocolate or strawberry sauce. Naturally, the strawberry sauce looked like blood.

Out of the three leads, I thought Adam Beach was the best, although that isn't saying much. Ira Hayes has intense PTSD; he is most resistant about going on the bond drive. To drown his sorrows, he turns to drink. And to top everything off, he is of the Pima tribe and faces intense discrimination despite his hero-status. But Adam beach played the role with gravitas and sympathy. He was certainly better than Ryan Philppe who scowled his way through the film. And Jesse Bradford was as bland as a ham sandwich.

FOOF was definitely a dud in Eastwood's directing repertoire. It was watchable enough, but quite rightly did not deserve a place on the top 1000 films of all time. 

Letters from Iwo Jima review

 Number 362 on the top 1000 films of all time is the Japanese-language American-produced Letters from Iwo Jima.

General Kuribayashi (Ken Watanabe) is granted the impossible task of defending the Japanese island of Iwo Jima from American invasion during the last few months of World War Two. One of his soldiers is Private Saigo (Kazunari Ninomiya.)

In my Mystic River review, I hoped that Clint Eastwood would stick to directing rather than acting. And that's exactly what he did when he directed this film. It was an excellent portrayal of  a little-known part of World-War-Two told from the unfamiliar perspective of the Japanese. When Hollywood portrays WW2, they often have an unfair bias toward the war in Europe, being completely ignorant of the whole other war happening in the Pacific. Letters from Iwo Jima was also a sensitive, well-rounded and brave portrayal. For once, it is the Japanese, and not the Americans, who are shown as courageous heroes.

Letters from Iwo Jima was received well in Japan with much praise going toward its well-rounded characters who were real without being stereotypical. Private Saigo had no interest in the war; all he wants to do is to return home to his pregnant wife. But as the government took his baking equipment for the war effort, he has no choice but to fight. And Kazunari Ninomiya brought a very sympathetic character to life. It was hard not to root for such an underdog. But Ken Watanabe was equally good if not better. General Kuribayashi was a character who was fiercely loyal to his men.

Eastwood depicted the battle of Iwo Jima with sensitivity, gravitas and nuance. The feeling of doom is apparent, but so is the feeling of honour among the men. In one of the film's more disturbing sequences, a group of soldiers choose to commit honour suicides instead of surrendering or being taken prisoner.

Mostly filmed in Iceland, we see that the location is as stark and as a fraught as are the Japanese's chances of survival. Yet believing it to be the perfect place for the US to attack their homeland, they're prepared to defend it to the last man. And this preparation soon turned into desperation.

Eastwood earned himself yet another best film nomination with Letters from Iwo Jima. And it was well-deserved. This was an under-stated, but incredibly powerful film.