Flags of Our Fathers

Flags of Our Fathers boldly goes were many other war film makers have gone before, into the WWII era. Although there have been countless films about wars throughout time, Flags of Our Fathers does it like no other. Counting last weeks class, I have seen this film three times and enjoyed it the third time just as much as the first, if not more. The first time I watched it I was at the theater with my Grandfather, who is a WWII veteran, and although I enjoyed the film, I could not imagine the memories it stirred up for my grandfather, and any other veterans who watched it for that matter.

I remember my Grandfather as a strong, kind, and proud veteran. Our whole family knows he served in WWII, but with the exception of my grandmother, we have never heard the stories my Grandfather brought back from the war, that is until he watched this film. He was deeply moved by the portrayal of Pearl Harbor and talked about it for weeks after seeing it. As much as he liked it and as much as he talked about it, he never again watched the movie nor did he say why. It is my assumption that he was brought back to experiences he had tried to forget for the past few decades, and only found it necessary to do that once. The picture of the marines putting up the flag had been hanging in his room for years, and he often talked about how he had met Ira Hayes in the years following the war, so to him it had personally meaning that is unexplainable.

The film started with a flash back of the horrors of the war, and then transitions into context of WWII and how the marines were looked at as hero's. There were many instances where irony showed its face in the film. In the beginning of the film it shows Ryan Philippe, the medic, trying to save a dying soldier and ironically the soldier says "go help someone who is hurt". In addition, when the medic gets to another soldier and is busy working on him a Japanese soldier jumps out and tries to attack Philippe he gets stabbed and then asks for help, again, kind of ironic.

Eastwood must have understood the events of the landing in Iwo Jima the same way my Grandfather experienced it because, according to my Grandfather, " is the next worst thing to actually being there", he did a great job of portraying the seriousness of the violence that occurred on that day. I can not help but to admire the role played by Barry Pepper as the sergeant. He played the role of a man of courage, dignity, and pride. During the film he was offered a promotion that would get him off the battle grounds but he denied because he gave his word to his men, "I promised them I would bring them back to their mothers, I already lied to half of them", and he intended to keep his word to the others, however impossible that may have been.

I truly did enjoy watching this film and I think that veterans can appreciate it more than I could. I am not claiming to understand what the WWII vets went through, because to me it is unimaginable, but after watching Flags of Our Fathers I know I have a little better of an idea.