Flags of Our Fathers / Letters From Iwo Jima

I'm really glad they're releasing the films in this two-film set. The films deserve to be examined back-to-back. It was a shame the distribution of the films in theatres couldn't be coordinated so the releases were closer together creating more of an "event" status around them. These films are a stark, striking, bold entry in the pantheon of World War Two movies (war movies in general for that matter). I've not seen a bolder attempt since Oliver Stone's Vietnam trilogy of films (Platoon, Born on the Fourth of July and Heaven and Earth (maybe this release of Eastwood's films will prompt them to give Stone's series a similar DVD treatment). The two films, very dramatically examine war on various fronts, not just the combat milieau.

The broader scope of Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima combined, are unique for the war film genre, and it will finally get the exposure it deserves and I hope more people discover the films via this release.

Clint Eastwood has proven himself (if there was ever any doubt after Million Dollar Baby) to be a master filmmaker. With Mystic River and Million Dollar Baby under his belt (2 bonafide masterpieces), one wondered how he would top them. His answer was to direct not only one but TWO films about WWII (the other being Letters from Iwo Jima. To make 2 great films at 76 (back to back no less) is no easy feat. But to make 2 films of such depth, poetry, humanity, and poignancy is even more beautiful and moving. When you realise that 90 percent of what Hollywood puts out ranges from atrocious to mediocre, and then you watch these 2 magnificent films, it restores your faith in filmmaking and that even Hollywood, which has been maligned (quite rightly) over the last 30 years or so, can still contribute to film as an art form. Clint has been compared (rightly, I believe) to John Ford. There has been beauty and poetry galore in Clint's last 3 films in particular, and in many others as well. Ford's films also had that poetry and lyricism, and a depth that most filmmakers rarely posses. In these 2 films, there is poetry, subtlety, and substance to spare.

Flags of Our Fathers generally got mixed reviews from critics, and many were disappointed. Out of the two films, it was the one that most people disliked. I wasn't disappointed at all, and I think the film is a masterpiece. It is truthful, sad, cynical, heartbreaking, and yet, somehow uplifting in some ways. It centers on the offical lies about the famous Iwo Jima photograph. We find out the exact circumstances as to why this photo was rendered, and we find out on the 3 servicemen who were exploited by the Roosevelt Administration (showing that exploiting servicemen is a bipartisan enterprise) and how they were pretty much jettisoned after the government had no further use for them. In many Eastwood films, there are a few bad performances in the minor roles. Here that isn't the case. The trio of lead actors, Adam Beach, Ryan Phillipe, and Jesse Bradford, are superb. There isn't a false note or performance in the entire film. One of the best aspects about this film is how it's edited. The film has graphic war footage, but it's interpersed in the film in an interesting way. The war footage, unlike other overly graphic war films like Saving Private Ryan, doesn't revel in its cruelty. It's there to move the film along. This film also really gives you a sense of the battle for Iwo Jima. You see the military strategy in how they take the island, painful step by painful step. The military people here are not the stupid, gung ho types that often are portrayed in Hollywood films. They are much more down to earth and real. Regardless about your feelings about war and the cause of, you can't help but feel for all soldiers after seeing this film (and its companion Letters). The ending of this film is one of the more beautiful that I've seen. It flashes back to a rather simple scene that ends up being unexpectedly poignant.

Letters is equally extraordinary. Despite its depiction of war, it is a much quieter, serene, and moving film that Flags. It does touch on how soldiers are pawns in politicans' schemes like Flags, but this film concentrates almost exclusively on the Japanese soldiers themselves. Ken Watanabe gives a towering performance as the commander of the island, a vastly intelligent, articulate, caring man, who nevertheless does what he feels is his duty to his country, knowing very well that he will most likely be killed. Like Flags, we really get to know these soldiers like we were in the platoon ourselves, and aside from a few war speeches, Letters and Flags never feel like they are propaganda, gun-ho garbage that Hollywood and others have been known for putting out. Clint's direction is breathtakingly assured. When you take into account that Clint speaks no Japanese, and he directs a film almost exclusively in Japanese, it makes the film even more extraordinary to behold. There has only been a few films in history that have managed to do this, a film where a foreign director immerses himself so much in the culture that if you didn't know it was a foreign director directing the film, you'd swear it was a native of the country (Kurosawa's Dersu Uzala, Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange, and Tarkovsky's The Sacrifice are examples of this phenomenon).

Perhaps the best example of Clint's direction is in the following scene. One of the Japanese soldiers arrives at the island, and the other soldiers believe him to be a spy sent by the officers. He eventually tells them his story, and why he was sent to Iwo Jima. He was enforcing curfew in a local town with one of his officers, and they pass by one of the houses where a dog is barking rather loudly. The officer informs the soldier to take the dog inside the house, and shoot it. The soldier takes the dog into the house, and the family is horrified. The soldier shoots a bullet in the air, and tells the family to keep the dog quiet. The soldier then leaves the house, but the dog barks again. The officer becomes furious, and he goes into the house to shoot the dog. But you never see the dog being shot, you only hear the shot, and see the soldier's reaction (only the officer goes into the house). This makes the scene so powerful and sad. The soldier was sent to Iwo Jima because he let the dog live, and the officer was furious that the soldier disobeyed him. The way Clint films this scene is why it's so memorable. A lesser director would have shown the dog getting shot, with hand held shots and hysterical screaming. He would have tried to justify his decision by saying "it's more realistic", which it is, but there is no art, poetry, or intelligence in that. It's lame shock value, which will always lessen the dramatic impact of a scene.

This is a great set. It's worth picking up for the films alone. Kudos to Warner Brothers for funding this immensely ambitious project, and for Clint Eastwood for making it so memorable and moving....

Buy Flags of Our Fathers / Letters From Iwo Jima Now

I always imagined that they would release these movies in one set. I believe that they are two of the best (and most emotional) WWII movies. I've read the discription and was pleased with the extras (I never previously bought Flags because there were absolutly no features to be found) and I hope they release them both on HD and Blu-Ray in one set. For those who have never seen these, Flags is a very poignant film but often felt stale in terms of flashbacks and characterization. However, Letters is easily the best and is one of my favorite war films of all time( along with Private Ryan, Apocalypse Now, Platoon, Band of Brothers, and Full Metal Jacket). Together, these films make one of the greatest WWII experiences of all time. Plus, 39.99 for a 5-disc set ain't half bad!

Read Best Reviews of Flags of Our Fathers / Letters From Iwo Jima Here

This maybe the best War films out there back to back they give you a understanding of the times and captures the era perfectly I heard the NPR radio interview of Clint Estwood on the making of these two films so I had to buy it the violence is no worse than the Final Destination movies catigory the special effects are unbelieveable it looks and feels like the real news reels back then etc I like both films equally it is in color but the on the dark side during battle scenes Clint wanted this on purpose to tone down the gore and get the heroism across better it has a extra DVD of Vintage 1944 Imo Jima American Color film too with interviews of recent survivors and family telling stories and about the famous flag raising picture on Imo after seeing these films you wonder how anyone survived this battle Clint did a very good job getting the story across without judgement of either side in this conflict I have to admit I was a little timid buy this collection because of the persumed war violence I thought was in it but it's not worse than Saving Privite Ryan I guess don't be scared of these two films on that levelall wars are the same amount violence and gore discribed in these kind of films buy it you won't be sorry

Want Flags of Our Fathers / Letters From Iwo Jima Discount?

With the magnificent double feature of FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS and LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA, producer/director Clint Eastwood has given viewers the greatest Memorial Day homage in movie history. I am reviewing a monumental five-disk set that needs to begin with disk five. It includes a brilliant 95 minute History Channel documentary, narrated by Gene Hackman, on America's battle in February 1945 to take Iwo Jima; and also includes an Oscar-nominated Technicolor short from 1945 called TO THE SHORE OF IWO JIMA. Do watch this first in an evening so that you have essential background for the main course Eastwood two-to-four night double bill.

Next watch the bonuses to LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA so that you can appreciate an American filmmaker who does not know Japanese making a subtitled Japanese-language war movie about the taking of this small Japanese island in the South Pacific. The cast for LETTERS is all Japanese and completely unknown to me, except for Ken Watanabe as a General. It is a relentlessly grim war film, filmed on Iwo Jima and on various Southern California locations, including military bases. The late Henry Bumstead's production design (with James Murakami) of snaking tunnels all over the island are a wonder, and Eastwood with cinematographer Tom Stern have conceived the movie in bleached out color that is almost black-and-white. The only real color are flame throwers. The Japanese believe in ceremony in life and honor in death; nothing is more glorious for them than to die heroically in a war for the glory of Japan, which is a philosophy that revulses me. So a 140 minute Japanese film with soldiers blowing themselves up or shooting themselves rather than be captured is a bit of a turn-off for me. But Eastwood handles it all flawlessly, helped by Iris Yamashita's poignant script. And subtitles are mercifully full-sized below the letterboxed CinemaScope picture.

The bonuses for LETTERS are a filmmaking documentary called RED SUN, BLACK SAND (working title for the movie), meeting the Japanese actors and their characters, and attending a world premiere and a press conference one day apart in November 2006. Seen first, these featurettes provide valuable background material for the movie.

I vastly prefer the curiously underrated FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS, which has the American point of view on Iwo Jima for 132 minutes. Only about 1/3 of it has war footage (largely filmed in Iceland); the other 2/3 is stateside after the war going all the way up to the present day. The stunning movie perceptively explores the concept of what makes a hero, with Iwo Jima survivors treated as manufactured heroes in 1945-1980 Anerica to be interviewed and sell war bonds. But for these so-called heroes, the true heroes are those men who lie dead back on Iwo. (We flashback to the three survivors on a podium remembering the battle to take Iwo. Joel Cox is the superb editor.) I was often reminded of Philip Kaufman's THE RIGHT STUFF (1982). FLAGS is flawlessly designed by Henry Bumstead (his last credit before he died at age 90), hauntingly scored by Clint Eastwood and his son Kyle (that evocative forlorn trumpet and the strident piano!), wonderfully written and edited out of sequence (with old men recalling a battle half a century earlier to young reporters), takes us up to a Iwo monument dedication around 1990, and also is shot in ghostly monochromatic bleached-out colors by Tom Stern. FLAGS is a true film masterpiece--and again with a mostly unknown American cast. Eastwood and fellow producers Steven Spielberg and Robert Lorenz can be very proud of their double feature triumph that does justice to two very different cultures re: war. It is the ultimate two-sided Memorial Day weekend movie experience. LETTERS, in particular, helps us understand a foreign culture and a thousand World War Two movies with "the Japs" as the enemy.

The bonuses for FLAGS should also, like LETTERS, be watched before that film. They are 105 minutes total, including an introduction by Clint Eastwood, a featurette on the six brave men who survived Iwo (or at least the flag raising), The Making of an Epic, Raising the Flag, Looking Back Into the Past, writing the screenplay (by William Broyles, Jr. and Paul Haggis), the visual effects, and the theatrical trailer. What a towering feat Eastwood, Spielberg, and Lorenz have done here as producers and director. Everyone must have felt the importance of the dual film concept, given their all, and created two towering masterpieces that will endure as long as movies do. Bravo to all!