Flags of Our Fathers (2006)

Outline: Three men (Adam Beach, Ryan Phillippe, and Jesse Bradford) who managed to survive Iwo Jima are shipped back home to stomp for war bonds, but they can't manage to leave the horrors of war behind them.

I feel as though I cannot criticize this movie without it seeming like I am criticizing veterans. Can you just take my word for it that I have nothing but the utmost respect for veterans of the Allied forces? You can? Okay, good.

Because this movie . . . isn't that good. It's not bad, per se, but there are times when it is downright ridiculous. Forehead smackingly so. Bradford's accent is one of those things, but I am sure there are more subtle examples.

I should probably tell you that it is not the direction that is at fault. Clint Eastwood is an amazing director, and his pluckly little score is lovely. He's working with some great people, like Barry Pepper, Robert Patrick, Harve Presnell, Jamie Bell, and Joseph Cross, so it's no surprise that the picture is, at turns, very moving.

Even so, I get the feeling that co-writer Paul fucking Haggis (as his name will forever me to be) woke up one morning and announced, "Non-linear is so fucking hot right now." I'd say it was William Broyles Jr., but his filmography suggests that he wouldn't go there. I've never read James Bradley and Ron Powers' book, so I guess it could be non-linear, but that seems unlikely.

Listen - I like non-linearity from time to time. The Prestige used it to great aplomb. It's an effective device to get the audience to stay in the now of a given moment, to focus on the scene instead of working on the story. Here, however, the non-linear plot works against any tension the movie may have had, dramatic or otherwise. An argument could be made that because the movie is historically based, there was never any tension in the first place. I would challenge that person to find ten average Americans who know anything about that battle other than the iconic image.*

In any case, by telling us in the first few minutes who lives and who dies, the movie looses any shot at dramatic tension it may have once had, and the denouement, minus a few touching moments, ends up feeling drawn out and overwrought.

Nevertheless, there are enough tearjearking minutes and good action sequences to redeem the film from Paul fucking Haggis' "handiwork." We'll see how the companion piece compares next year. B

*Props for acknowledging the belief that the planting of the flag was a PR stunt.