The war in the Pacific, and at home
Movies
Whether because of public dubiety about all the conflicts
since World War II, a willingness to exploit any trend, or perhaps the
inexorable progress of history itself, Hollywood
continues to produce movies about the last truly global conflict, “the Good
War.” Despite its soppy weepiness, The
Thin Red Line, about a battle for a Pacific island, earned positive
reviews, if slender profits. More important, Saving Private Ryan won numerous awards, including medals from the
armed services for its director and star. (I wonder how many of those young men
who fought, suffered wounds, or died on D-Day won such prestigious commendations?)
Now Clint Eastwood’s new film, Flags of Our Fathers,
confronts one of the costliest battles of the war, the attack on Iwo Jima, a dreary, obscure island in the Pacific
regarded as necessary for staging American air attacks and saving crippled
aircraft and wounded crewmen. In a pseudo-documentary style, Eastwood shows the
familiar scenes of Marines learning about their mission, the various
preparations of the men who will fight the Japanese on that lunar landscape
against heavy guns, strong fortifications, and a fierce fighting force
entrenched for many years. Nobody could have predicted the ferocity and horror
of that battle.
Unlike most war movies, including the John Wayne classic Sands of Iwo Jima, the picture focuses
mostly on the home front, especially on the three survivors of the group that
raised the flag on Mount Suribachi
in 1945. Snapped by Joe Rosenthal, the picture of the event became the most famous
photograph of World War II, and in effect, the real basis of Flags of Our Fathers. The government
brings the three men, John “Doc” Bradley (Ryan Phillippe),
a Navy medical corpsman, and two Marines, Rene Gagnon (Jesse Bradford) and Ira
Hayes (Adam Beach), back for a series of great public appearances in order to
increase war bond sales and inspire greater patriotism in the folks on the home
front.
Almost as soon as they arrive, the men learn that the
government has no interest in the facts of the situation — because a big shot
wanted the first as a souvenir, the picture actually shows the second flag on Iwo Jima — but simply wants to exploit them as
returning heroes. In reality, they find themselves uncomfortable with their
role, since they know that like any men in combat, they fought as much from
fear and allegiance to their fellows as any particular heroism. As they point
out, the battle for Iwo Jima continued for
more than a month after the flagraising, and that a
good many of their friends and comrades never returned from that bleak place.
The reality of course fails to convince the people running
the bond tour, who take the three all over the country, so that cheering
throngs in great arenas can watch some fake re-enactment of the flagraising and the local politicians and businessmen can
bask in their reflected glory. A number of individual flashbacks to their
experiences on Iwo Jima contrast with the smug
ignorance of the civilians who cannot or will not understand the truth of the
historic event, of war itself. The distinction between their knowledge and the
public belief finally unhinges Ira Hayes, certainly the best known of the
three, whose sad story of anger, frustration, and a retreat into alcoholism has
been told before.
In its careful attention to the lives of these three
ordinary men returned from battle, Flags
of Our Fathers resembles The Best
Years of Our Lives more than The
Sands of Iwo Jima, a story not so much of battle but of what happens to men
after the battle is over. It also provides an inescapable parallel to
contemporary public events, when every politician throws the word hero around
to describe every man or woman in uniform, and cowards exploit the deeds of
soldiers to reflect some entirely undeserved idea of courage upon themselves. Eastwood’s essentially despairing story of the
aftermath of combat, the hypocrisy of government, and the eagerness of everyone
to associate themselves with history shows us a good deal about our own time.
Flags of Our Fathers (R),
directed by Clint Eastwood, is now playing at Culver Ridge 16, Pittsford,
Henrietta 18, Webster 12, Tinseltown, Greece
Ridge 12, and Eastview 13.
This article appears in Oct 25-31, 2006.
