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Just days into the WWII battle on the island of Iwo Jima, six soldiers were sent to raise the US flag. The picture of those six men appeared in newspapers across the country—and it gave hope to those back home that the end of the war was in sight. Once the government caught wind of the impact that the picture had on the country, they went in search of those six men—to bring them home and give them a hero’s welcome.
By the time the men were tracked down, only of the six were still alive: Rene Gagnon (Jesse Bradford), Ira Hayes (Adam Beach), and John “Doc” Bradley (Ryan Philippe). The three men were brought back to the States, where they toured the country in an attempt to help convince the American people to invest in bonds to support the war effort.
Flags of Our Fathers is based on the book by James Bradley, Doc’s son. It tells the story of the three men who returned home as heroes, though they never really understood how putting up a flag was heroic (especially when it was the second flag that went up—after the first one was taken down). In flashbacks, it also shows the horrors of the battle that the men fought and their memories of the men who fought with them and didn’t make it home.
You’d think that a historical war film that’s directed by Clint Eastwood—who also produced it with the help of Steven Spielberg—would have the best of everything: strong characters, a powerful story, and tons of action. After all, we’ve come to expect award-winners from the 76-year-old director. But that’s not the case with Flags of Our Fathers. Sure, there’s action. The war scenes are loud and intense, and the often-gruesome images of wounded soldiers and severed body parts will burn themselves into your memory. But even the battle scenes lose their excitement after a while. They’re just more of the same—and they don’t really add much to the plot. As for the story, it’s moving at times and exciting at others—and it seems that the filmmakers were careful to keep everything as accurate as possible—but it’s not all that interesting. The story skips back and forth—from training camp to the three men on tour and back to the war and ahead to Doc’s son interviewing survivors—and it’s not always easy to keep up. In addition, the characters just aren’t all that interesting. Viewers never really get to know the three main characters—except, perhaps, for Ira Hayes, who stands out as the most intriguing and the most real of the three. But the other two don’t seem to have much personality. And even less interesting—and practically impossible to differentiate—are the minor characters, the ones on whom the three remaining men look back. Viewers get to know very little about them. So when there’s a discussion about whether it was Hank or Harlon in the picture, it’s hard to really care—because you won’t remember who Hank and Harlon were.
Despite the promising premise—not to mention Clint Eastwood’s recent Midas touch—Flags of Our Fathers fizzles out. And, in the end, it’s not as exciting as it is exhausting.
