Flags of Our Fathers
Flags of Our Fathers
There were five Marines and one Navy Corpsman photographed raising the U.S. flag on Mt. Suribachi by Joe Rosenthal on February 23, 1945. This is the story of three of the six surviving servicemen - John 'Doc' Bradley, Pvt. Rene Gagnon and Pvt. Ira Hayes - who fought in the battle to take Iwo Jima from the Japanese.
Charles London reviewedMay 28, 2025
"Flags" does a good job of showing us the Battle of Iwo Jima, with well-done realistic action, horrific as it may be. We also get a feel for the human drama on the battlefield as well as the post-trauma off of it. The story revolving around the famous flag-raising, however, is part intriguing and part confusing. Adding to the confusion, that is already baked into the history, is Eastwood's nonlinear storytelling with many different characters.
Central to the plot are the identities of the men in the flag-raising photograph. I won't give away spoilers, but I will point out that a Marine Corps investigation completed 10 years after the film's release found that 2 of the 3 main characters in the movie, thought to be in the photo, were actually not. Yikes! The filmmakers are not at fault but, since everyone involved is now deceased, we will never know the whole of the story, including the whys and wherefores.
It's best to let the iconic 1945 photo represent the many nameless and faceless heroes who lived or died fighting for their country, securing an important strategic victory, while raising the hopes and spirits of a restless nation. As for the movie, take it for what it offers (remembrance) and not for what it doesn't (closure).