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STORY STUDY - MEDIUM: FILM - “Flags of Our Fathers”

Jeffrey Tung
Apr 10, 2017
2 min read

The phrase goes that a picture is worth a thousand words. For this film, a very iconic picture meant boosting morale and winning World War II for America.

Directed by Clint Eastwood, written by William Broyles, Jr. and Paul Haggis, and based on the non-fiction book by James Bradley with Ron Powers, Flags of Our Fathers is about the Battle of Iwo Jima, and focuses on three of the six soldiers who raised the flag on Iwo Jima: medic John “Doc” Bradley, Corporal Rene Gagnon, and Corporal Ira Hayes, a soldier suffering survivor’s guilt. The remaining three died in battle.

However, like with most photographs, there’s more to the story. It’s revealed that the flag the three raised was a second flag they planted after Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal requests the first one for himself. Bradley, Gagnon, and Hayes are among the soldiers tasked to raise the replacement flag. The photo of the second flag on Iwo Jima, taken by Joe Rosenthal, is the one that is printed and seen by America.

Bradley, Gagnon, and Hayes are assigned to tour America, using them and the photo to raise money for the war effort. Gagnon is all too happy to do this, while Bradley and especially Hayes are uncomfortable with this.

The film showcases its story in three intervening time frames: the battle of Iwo Jima itself, the three soldiers’ bond tour, and finally present day, where some of the elderly versions of the characters are seen, telling both stories to someone.

I’ve not seen many war films, but I can say that Flags of Our Fathers certainly has a unique story structure. Typically, a war film would show a battle (or battles) and the characters involved would drive the emotional part of the story, with an epilogue and/or prologue.

Here, we get a bit of everything: a battle with characters trying to survive, and how they deal with the uncomfortable aftermath when the public is hailing them as heroes.

The graphic violence of war does not let up: soldier’s intestines are exposed, the ugliness of getting shot, stabbed, or exploded, even a decapitated head after the explosion.

Where the film falters is the use of intervening timelines. Sometimes it works, and it’s easy to follow, but this film does so many that it becomes confusing. Differentiating the timelines is easy enough: the war scenes, and the city scenes. However, there are times when the war scenes shown are different. It’s like showing part C of a scene, then later in the film, part A, then goes to part B which leads to C, and then continues to D. It’s difficult to keep track.

I bought Flags of Our Fathers when it came along with the film I wanted to see, Letters from Iwo Jima, its companion film, which I’ll be discussing next week. I had no expectations of this film, outside of the story that I learned from the trailer. Ultimately, it’s not a film I wouldn’t want to revisit, not because of its subject matter, but because of its confusing presentation.