Review: Flags of Our Fathers

UK release date: 22nd December

Joe Rosenthal’s iconic photograph of US servicemen raising the Stars and Stripes above the Pacific island of Iwo Jima is the starting point for Clint Eastwood’s Second World War epic. Part war movie, part deconstruction of heroism, it follows three of the group — Marines Rene Gagnon and Ira Hayes (Jesse Bradford, Adam Beach), and Navy corpsman “Doc” Bradley (Ryan Phillippe) — as they’re sent home to bolster the fundraising effort. While these men struggle to cope with post-traumatic stress and their reluctant status as heroes, Eastwood reveals the complex interaction of war, propaganda and real lives behind the famous image.

Based on a bestselling memoir by Bradley’s son, this is a technically accomplished yet ponderously worthy film that quickly abandons its probing remit to fall back on misty-eyed platitudes about war as hell and the camaraderie of soldiers under fire. Eastwood’s Letters from Iwo Jima, which depicts events from the Japanese perspective, is due for release in February.

Radio Times rating:

***

UK cinema certificate 15
Running time 131mins

Review by Jamie Russell

News: Ryan Phillippe

Poor old Ryan hasn’t seen his career take off quite as he might have liked after his decent turn in 1999’s Cruel Intentions,with his (soon to be ex-) wife Reese Witherspoon having gained all the glory. That could all be about to change with his starring turn in this week’s Flags of Our Fathers, however – and his lack of career success is part of the reason why he got the role, as director Clint Eastwood didn’t want any big names to add to the authenticity.

Next up, he’ll be starring opposite top-notch character actor Chris Cooper in Breach, a true story tale of a young FBI man’s clashes with his boss who, it turns out, was a Soviet spy.

He’ll then be taking the lead in an as-yet untitled drama about a soldier returning from the war in Iraq who decided to take on the US government in court to prevent them from sending him back for another tour of duty.

Finally, and keeping on the political theme, he’ll also be starring in Tlatelolco: Mexico 68, alongside John Leguizamo, as an American journalist who gets caught up the 1968 student revolts, which ended in the massacre of hundreds of students by government forces. Politics being big in Hollywood at the moment, this new-found activist streak could well prove profitable for the young actor.