Flags of our Fathers / Letters from Iwo Jima
FLAGS OF OUR FATHERSÂ (15)
D: Clint Eastwood
Warner/Dreamworks/Amblin/Malpaso (Clint Eastwood, Robert
Lorenz & Steven Spielberg)
USA 🇺🇸 2006
131 mins
War
W: William Broyles, Jr. & Paul Haggis [based on the
book by James Bradley & Ron Powers]
DP: Tom Stern
Ed: Joel Cox
Mus: Clint Eastwood
Ryan Philippe (John Bradley), Jesse Bradford (Cpl. Rene
Gagnon), Adam Beach (Cpl. Ira Hayes), Barry Pepper (Sgt. Michael Strank), Jamie Bell (Pvt. Ralph Ignatowski), Paul Walker (Sgt. Hank Hansen), Robert Patrick (Col. Johnson)
The first of a double bill of films directed by Clint
Eastwood about one of the significant turning points of World War II.
Though this film is geared towards American patriotism and
does drag with lots of talk, it's worth watching to fully experience the double bill, although the second part, Letters From Iwo Jima (qv), telling the same story from the Japanese
perspective, was much better.
7/10
LETTERS FROM IWO JIMAÂ (15)
D:Â Clint Eastwood
Warner Bros./Dreamworks/Malpaso (Clint Eastwood, Steven
Spielberg & Robert Lorenz)
USA 🇺🇸 2006
140 mins
War
W: Iris Yamashita & Paul Haggis [based on "Picture Letters
From Commander In Chief" by Tadamichi Kuribayashi]
DP:Â Tom Stern
Ed: Joel Cox & Gary D. Roach
Mus:Â Kyle Eastwood & Michael
StevensÂ
Ken Watanabe (Gen. Tadamichi Kuribayashi), Kazunari Ninomiya
(Pvt. Saigo), Tsuyoshi Ihara (Col. Takeichi Nishi), Ryo Kase (Pvt. Shimizu), Shido Nakamura (Lt. Ido)
Clint Eastwood's companion piece to Flags Of Our Fathers (qv),
shows stories and images from the same war, but from a Japanese perspective and is by far the more superior film.Â
The Oscars seemed to agree also, nominating the film for 4
awards including Best Film (Flags Of Our Fathers received a sole nomination, for Sound Editing).
8/10
