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Flags of Our Fathers
R4 - Australia - Warner Home Video Review written by and copyright: Noor Razzak (10th July 2007). |
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The Film
 When word broke that Clint Eastwood would be directing a war epic I got excited, and then I heard he was doing two based on the battle at Iwo Jima. One from the American perspective and one from the Japanese and I got even more excited. The trailers promised grittiness and realism but my expectations sank as I feared that Flags of Our Fathers would end up another in a line of over-patriotic glamorization’s of war. But as I sat and watched the film I realized that I should not doubt Eastwood as he delivered exactly the opposite. Flags of Our Fathers is as anti-war as they come; it’s also a criticism of how government exploits soldiers off the battlefield for the benefit of the generating positive spin on war. And anyone that’s actually fought in one will tell you that there are no positives. Based on the best selling book of the same name written by James Bradley and Ron Powers the film tells the story of the raising of the American flag at Iwo Jima and the soldiers who did it. The famous photograph has become a symbol for heroism but buried behind it is a tangled web of lies all for the good of morale and carrying on that façade are the three of the five soldiers that raised that flag. Originally optioned by Steven Spielberg in early 2001 the film underwent a series of scripts none of which met Spielberg’s approval and was shelved for a time. After he and Eastwood met in 2004 the film saw life again under the Oscar winner’s helm. Shot back-to-back with its Japanese counterpart Letters from Iwo Jima the film not only saw new life but was hailed as a massive achievement despite some not so great reviews. Flags of Our Fathers takes on a different approach than the book, which was told in a linear fashion. The film is broken up with flashbacks, this fractured narrative structure works well for this film as it unfolds and you learn more about these characters as the film progresses. The film although is based around the battle of Iwo Jima is basically about the three men and the effects of that battle on each of them as they are touted through the United States as propaganda tools to help raise money for the war effort. John "Doc" Bradley (Ryan Phillippe) the naval medic plays the middle man, unsure of his ultimate duty he finds purpose in keeping the three together amidst the calamity. Private Rene Gagnon (Jesse Bradford) is a cocky Marine who loves the attention and wants the ride to continue as long as possible and then there’s Ira Hayes (Adam Beach) the Native American who is traumatized by what he saw during that battle and struggles to deal with the attention and being called a hero. The three young cast members all do capable jobs in their roles, Phillippe displaying a maturity I haven’t seen before in his previous films, Bradford plays a character that doesn’t seem to far from what he may actually be like and Beach delivers what can be considered the best performance of the three. The raw range of emotion between quite contemplation to anger can be witnessed in Beach turn that solidifies this young man’s talent. This is quite a feat considering Eastwood is renowned for doing no more than one to two takes per shot. I find it rather astounding that Beach was not recognized by the Academy in the Best Supporting Actor category. The look of the film is rather drab, akin to the style used by Spielberg in Saving Private Ryan (1998) which de-saturates the colors from the film stripping it of all vibrancy; the result is an image that is near to black and white. The reason behind this was to give the film a vintage aged look that complimented the era and also helps ground the film in reality. I was also impressed to discover that Eastwood also collaborated on the film’s score, one that stands out as a wonderful companion to the images captured. While the film certainly looks and sounds good and features some fine performances by the young cast, the film does tend to waddle about in the middle, the film’s 132 minute runtime can be a stretch for some audiences but hopefully you’ll be engage in the story from the start and you won’t feel the time tick away. If you haven’t already seen Flags of Our Fathers and are a war film buff then there’s no excuse not to check it out and in the meantime you might also want to go check out the Japanese perspective in Letters from Iwo Jima.
Video
Presented in the film's original theatrical ratio of 2.35:1 this anamorphic widescreen effort is yet another brilliant effort from Warner Brothers. The image is sharp, clean and fine detailed is displayed exceptionally well. The overall tone is very muted with saturated colours that are rendered accurately. Furthermore I found that the black levels held up well, they are deep and I saw no noise amid them. Shadow detail remains consistently good throughout the print. There was no evidence of compression problems, edge-enhancements of any kind however much like the Region 1 release this also does have some very minor moire effects against some line patterns but nothing that was too distracting. Otherwise it's a fine effort from Warner Brothers.
Audio
A single English Dolby Digital 5.1 is included as well as an English Descriptive Dolby Digital 2.0 surround track for the visually impaired. For the purposes of this review I chose to view the film with its English 5.1 track and much like the Region 1 release it's of reference quality. Dialogue is delivered cleanly and without any distortion, furthermore the many battle sequences are punchy and dynamic, the aggressiveness of the track is shown in full glory during these scenes with sound effects, ambient noise and score mixed together with precision adding to the immersive nature of the track. It's a splendid mix that will put your home theatre through a full exercise. Optional subtitles are included in Arabic, English, English for the hearing impaired, Greek, Hebrew and Icelandic.
Extras
First up we have an introduction to the film by director/co-producer/composer Clint Eastwood which runs for 5 minutes 5 seconds. Eastwood reflects on the film and the experience making it, he comments on the real events that took place and basically the importance of telling the story. It’s strange that this clip was placed on the first disc as it should ideally be viewed prior to the film, whatever the reason may be it’s a brief clip that provides come insight into why he chose to make the film. Next up is "Words on the Page", a featurette that runs for 17 minutes 2 seconds, this clip focuses on the writing process with Eastwood and screenwriters Paul Haggis and William Broyles Jr., author of the book James Bradley lends insight into the background of writing the book and the research that he underwent as well as the adaptation challenges faced by the screenwriters. Haggis and Broyles Jr. comment on the development process and choosing how to tell the story with flashbacks among other things. "Six Brave Men" is a featurette that runs for 19 minutes 51 seconds and takes a look at the real-life soldiers that are portrayed in the film, as the cast comment on the men they play. Eastwood delves into the casting choices and why these actors were picked for the roles and what each of them brought to the film. If you’d like to learn more about these men then this is the place to start as it has some interesting information. Following that is "The Making of an Epic" another featurette that runs for 30 minutes 11 seconds, this is an in-depth look at the production process, it features interviews with the director as well as cast members and takes a look at production design, photography, costumes, special effects and more. From this clip we are able to ascertain a general understanding of why Eastwood wanted to make this film and also the challenges faced throughout the producing from casting the young actors to shooting the incredibly complex battle scenes, on-location footage provides a valuable look at Eastwood’s directorial process. This makes an excellent addition to the supplements and far surpasses any EPK style clip. The next featurette is entitled "Raising the Flag" and it runs for 3 minutes 26 seconds, this brief clip takes a look at how the crew recreated the flag raising for the film, there isn’t a lot to take in here but generally looks at that particular day during the filming. "Visual Effects" is a featurette that runs for 14 minutes 55 seconds, in this clip Eastwood is joined by visual effects supervisor Michael Owens as well as visual effects producer Julian Levi and visual effects supervisor Matthew Butler as they comment on the various special effects techniques utilised on this production. From Complete CG shots to integrated shots that feature real-location footage and special effects mixed in to complete the total picture. It looks at complex effects sequences and also subtle changes to landscapes and backgrounds to turn Iceland (where the film was shot) into Iwo Jima among other things. The final featurette is entitled "Looking Into the Past" and it runs for 9 minutes 26 seconds, this clip features some archival news footage of the Iwo Jima campaign and the surviving soldiers that raised the flag. Rounding off the extras is the film’s original theatrical trailer which runs for 2 minutes 14 seconds.
Overall
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