ALLAN HUNTER at the Movies

CLINT EASTWOOD has become one of the most prolific and accomplished filmmakers in contemporary American cinema.

He already has two Oscars to his name and could well be in contention again in 2007 for ‘Flags Of Our Fathers’ (15), an ambitious, penetrating study of war, heroism, myths and politics.

Eastwood’s sombre film takes one of the most iconic images of the Second World War and uses it to reveal the way in which legends obscure the truth and how casualties of war don’t all happen on the battlefield.

In 1945, American forces landed on the Pacific Island of Iwo Jima. Fierce fighting allowed them to gain ground, and Colonel Chandler Johnson (Robert Patrick) ordered his men to raise the American flag on Mount Suribachi.

When a superior officer demands the flag as a souvenir, Chandler orders six more men to raise a second flag and that is the moment captured by photographer Joe Rosenthal (Ned Eisenberg) and shown around the world.

Already truth has been manipulated in the cause of propaganda. Three of the men from the photo survived, and Native American Ira Hayes (Adam Beach), Rene Gagnon (Jesse Bradford) and John Bradley (Ryan Phillippe) find that for better or worse it becomes the defining moment of their lives.

A film that takes the hell of war as a given, ‘Flags Of Our Fathers’ shows how the right image can help win or lose a conflict.

It also reveals the tragic fate of men acclaimed as heroes and left to contend with the afterglow of their fame, and a country where memories were short and prejudices were deeply felt.

A powerful, thought-provoking drama that leaves you eager to see Eastwood’s companion film ‘Letters From Iwo Jima’ (due to be released in February), which shows the same events from a Japanese perspective.

Nationwide release

Director: Clint Eastwood
Stars: Ryan Phillippe, Jesse Bradford, Adam Beach, John Benjamin Hickey, Jamie Bell
Screenwriter: William Broyles Jr, Paul Haggis based on the books by James Bradley and Ron Powers
Certificate: 15
Running time: 132 mins
Country: USA
Year: 2006

© Allan Hunter, 2006