Flags Of Our Fathers

[Ravi]

Can't wait to see these films.

[I Love a Magician]

Why is it so washed out looking? Like, it seems like they took out 85% of the color saturation.

[A Matter Of Chance]

Why is it so washed out looking? Like, it seems like they took out 85% of the color saturation.

I was wondering about that too. Mystic River had a look to it, but this is like whoaniqdoiqqasspjp

[Gold Trumpet]

This is the best film about WW2 in many years. I've been a harsh critic about Eastwood as a director, but he's matured light years with this film.

One of the other better films about WW2 was The Best Years of Our Lives. It was a serious portrait into the lives of returning GI's who had to deal with the difficulty of coping after the war. Made in Hollywood just two years after the war ended, the declarations it made and took notice of was stunning. It already dealt with the criticism that the war was driven by the racism of FDR and gave face to the soldiers who came home with loss limbs and reduced to a freak status. Plus it looked at an ideal marriage and tore that ideal to shreds in ways more candid than most Hollywood films at the time.

The Flags of Our Fathers goes even further. Not only does it unveil the hypocricy of the United States in promoting that famous picture of the flag raising, but it also confronts the complicated feelings the soldiers were going through. They were not black and white heroes, but people who felt they skimped out on duties and were only trying to live when they could have done more. Its just the face of war in all its brutality weakened them. Then the film goes even further. To those who are history buffs, it reveals information that is surprising and enlightening. Many facts I had no clue of. But the main thing is the film reveals these facts in the context of always forwarding the story. Many films love to be curious history in order to hook an audience, but Flags of Our Fathers is well coordinated drama to dig at the human stories of these characters in the greatest context. The final perspective of the film is that it goes further than many films in painting a national character of the United States during WW2. Doing that while mainly just telling one story should be applauded.

The reward is that Eastwood makes a old story relevant. I was dismayed with the praise that Good Night, and Good Luck received. Everyone boasted it was a great historical film that was relevant to our times. I disagreed. The film was just historical recording of the lives of the people involved as background material. Clooney and his writers did little to give understanding to the events in the context of how it was relatable to our times. They were sticking as close to the facts as possible and subjecting the film so it would only be interesting to history buffs. The saving grace of the film is that it was well made. The editing and composition were excellent. The film moved with a grace that looked authentic and wasn't ridiculed to formula set ups. It brought us closer to the material. The problem is the material did very little to assist the filmmaking.

If Eastwood would have made Good Night and Good Luck, he would have made a poor film. He would have kept his filmmaking crisp and clean with little flashiness. I say that because technically, Flags of Our Fathers, isn't well made. The transition shots Eastwood tries to do to show human drama are tired and stale. Many battle scenes roar on with with extreme editing and random images flying everywhere but lack the grace and control Speilberg had in the opening of Saving Private Ryan. Then the soundtrack is riddled with the same piano piece for nearly the entire film. The shooting is only competent enough.

But, Eastwood is still the better filmmaker because he rests on the old ideal: "It doesn't matter how you shoot a shot, but what shot you shoot." The filmmakers of Flags of Our Fathers ignored the technical flashiness and tried to make the greater film. The obsession these days is for visual brilliance. Better filmmakers should balk at this ideal.

So, the stage is set for Eastwood in his second Iwo Jima film. Can he make a film that defines the national character of Japan the way this one did for the United States? Or will he shift back to ordinary drama like he did in Million Dollar Baby? It's a good question. The Japanese character in WW2 has only been truly prodded in a few films. And all of them ignored the greater questions. The hope is, while his new one is far from perfect, that Eastwood has found the right ambition to tackle the subject.

[modage]

though i havent seen this, i have seen Best Years Of Our Lives and for you to say these are two of the best war films it leads me to believe you do not like war films very much.  as Best Years is about what happens after the war, and from what i hear about Flags the focus is also on that.  i might go see this soon though, and if i do it will be before noon and for $5. 

[Gold Trumpet]

though i havent seen this, i have seen Best Years Of Our Lives and for you to say these are two of the best war films it leads me to believe you do not like war films very much.  as Best Years is about what happens after the war, and from what i hear about Flags the focus is also on that.  i might go see this soon though, and if i do it will be before noon and for $5. 

I don't limit what is and what isn't a WW2 film. So many films have been made on a range of topics about WW2. Its impossible to say the war begins and ends with just the battles.

And thanks for assuming I hate war films. Even in a positive review you still manage to imply the idea i just hate film. I don't think my overwhelming number of negative reviews is your problem with me.

[MacGuffin]

More Flags For Fathers
A two-disc set is due on DVD in May.

On May 22, 2007, Paramount Home Entertainment will release Flags of Our Fathers (Special Collector's Edition) on DVD, HD DVD, and Blu-ray. The double dip comes home for the Clint Eastwood war drama about the raising of the U.S. flag on Iwo Jima, and will feature tons of bonus materials and extra features. It will be available for the MSRP of $36.99, while the HD DVD and Blu-ray releases will run for the MSRP of $39.99.

The Flags of Our Fathers (Special Collector's Edition) DVD will feature the following bonus materials:

An Introduction by Clint Eastwood
Words On The Page
Six Brave Men
The Making of an Epic
Raising the Flag
Visual Effects
Looking into the Past