Flags of Our Fathers / Letters From Iwo Jima (2006)

Flags of Our Fathers:
Sadly, this is a mishandled movie about the costs of war, wherein we learn the history of the men who became famous because of the iconic Iwo Jima Flag Raising photograph. While the performances are generally solid, the movie manages to lack character, and appears to have been edited by sledgehammer. The narrative jumps all over the place, from modern day, to the battle of Iwo Jima itself, to the years following the war, to even further after the war, and it does so without any of the grace that good non-linear narrative films have, but rather just decides to spend 15 mintes here, 5 there, and sprinkle in a step-by-step double-flashback anywhere. It's point about the costs of building celebrity on the blood of one's friends is a poignant one, certainly, but the movie is just not up to the task.

6 out of 10.

Letters From Iwo Jima:
Telling the story of the Japanese defenders of the little island off the coast of Japan provides for compelling narrative with some real weight, and for the most part offers wonderful focus. Instead of leaping all over the 20th century like a chihuahua full of jumping beans, the entire movie stays fixed on the Japanese soldiers as they prepare their defenses, stage their battle, and ultimately give their lives. Eastwood has to be commended for creating not only a legitimately original war movie, but doing it in Japanese, and in the process making a movie that even holds to many of the tenets of actual Japanese cinema. It does have a bit of an acquired taste, however. Being an Eastwood movie means it's a slower, more ponderous excercise about the characters and less about the battle itself. Generally an excellent movie.

9 out of 10.


As a pair:
Taking the two together is more difficult than one would expect, given they were both shot at the same time, about the same battle, and even use a few of the same camera shots. In a way, you could say they're about the costs of war, where Flags is about the costs for the living, and Letters the costs for the dying. Or you could say the pair is about sacrifice to one's country and whether or not that's a good thing. The biggest problem, though, is that Flags is only an okay movie, whereas Letters is pretty damn good. My honest opinion is that a person watches Letters first, and either watch Flags only if you desperately feel the need to know more, or just skip it entirely. Letters is worth seeing, but being connected to the disjointed Flags just weighs it down.

Score for the pair: 7 out of 10.