Review of Flags of Our Fathers (2006) by Alex H — 05 Jun 2009

I'm not sure how anyone could give this film less than five stars. Aside from Clint Eastwood's attention to detail (you can read my other reviews of his films on that), I think of this film as the point where the sublime meets the surreal. Eastwood uses a number of devices to develop his themes, not the least of which is the docu-drama with veterans as actors.

It was a brilliant use of affectation whereby the actor projects an image of himself in a sort of confessional. It is impossible to get these people to talk about how they feel about what happened. True heroes don't draw attention to themselves, but will flash a light of brilliance around that which they believe. Truly remarkable. I think this is as close as a film can get to what happened on that little island, and to what followed.