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Flags of Our Fathers Our rating: Rate this movie   MPAA rating: R (for sequences of graphic war violence and carnage, and for language) Genre: Drama, Historical, War Theater release: October 20, 2006 by Warner Bros. Directed by: Clint Eastwood Runtime: 2 hours 12 minutes Cast: Ryan Phillipe (John Bradley), Jesse Bradford (Rene Gagnon), Adam Beach (Ira Hayes), Barry Pepper (Mike Strank), John Benjamin Hickey (Keyes Beech), John Slattery (Bud Gerber), Paul Walker (Hank Hansen), Jamie Bell (Ralph Ignatowski) Related: Talk About It/Family Corner

"War is hell," they say. So is war propaganda.

Both of these observations are powerfully illustrated in Clint Eastwood's new film Flags of Our Fathers, which is based on James Bradley's book about the lives of the six U.S. Marines who appear in the ubiquitous photo called "Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima."

As the film opens, we watch three servicemen—John Bradley (Ryan Philippe), Rene Gagnon (Jesse Bradford), and Ira Hayes (Adam Beach)—climb a steep slope. When they reach the peak, they triumphantly lift an American flag.

But this is not the moment in that famous 1945 photo taken by AP reporter Joe Rosenthal atop Mt. Surabachi on a small Japanese island. No, this is a recreation on a peak made of papier-mâché, staged for a cheering crowd.

The Marines are standing in Chicago's Soldier Field, under a sky full of festive fireworks, waving to the Americans who have taken such comfort from that dramatic black-and-white portrait. They're taking part in a vigorous military propaganda effort, persuading patriotic Americans to purchase war bonds. And it works—the cheering people open their wallets to show their support for those troops still fighting against Germany and Japan.

Rosenthal's image captured America's imagination. It inspired us to strive for victory, and brought comfort to the worried families of Marines. Thus, it was printed, imitated, and reenacted to keep spirits high—and to keep the dollars coming in. "The country was tired of war," says a retired captain (Harve Presnell) as he thinks back. "One photo, almost all on its own, turned that around."

Ira Hayes , John 'Doc' Bradley and Rene Gagnon are greeted as heroes upon returning home from the war

Thus, we see Bradley, Gagnon, and Hayes, the three from the photograph who survived, welcomed as heroes for surviving the greatest siege in American military history. But as they wave and smile, they are haunted by the fact that Soldier Field is nothing like Mt. Surabachi at all. Their own flag-raising was not the glorious moment that everyone seems to believe it was. And, in their opinion, the real heroes were killed on the island.

All told, about 26,000 lives—almost 7,000 Americans and over 19,000 Japanese—died on and around Iwo Jima. (The Japanese perspective will be revealed in Eastwood's companion sequel, Letters from Iwo Jima, in February.) And the suffering didn't end when the Marines came home. The horrors continued, playing like a highlight reel in their heads—driving them to silence, depression, and worse.

The subject of violence preoccupies Eastwood in film after film. Having played a heroic gunslinger so many times, the 76-year-old Hollywood legend seems determined to de-glamorize violence and revise our definition of heroes. As in his masterpiece—Unforgiven—his characters often employ violence for the best intentions, but then carry burdens of doubt and damage afterward.

Flags of Our Fathers is ultimately about war heroes—why we need them, how poorly we misunderstand them, and what it's like for Marines branded as heroes. Eastwood shows us that there is often a vast chasm between what happens in combat and what is communicated to the nation via the media and the government.

It's a timely reminder. But it is not, as some might fear, an indictment of the government as manipulative and dishonest. Clearly, the campaign to represent Iwo Jima's "heroes" was a masterful work of public relations and spin. And yet, Eastwood leads us to wonder if some degree of deliberate misrepresentation might have been worth it after all, considering how many lives the exploitation of that photograph may have saved.

Doc Bradley, with Walter Gust (Stark Sands, right), recovers from wounds after the battle

Eastwood's film succeeds more fully in asking profound questions than providing any satisfying answers. But unfortunately, the film falls short of translating the power of that memorable book penned by James Bradley (with Ron Powers).

To be fair, a lot can be accomplished in 400 pages that cannot be achieved in two hours of screen time. Bradley's Flags recounts his investigation into the experience of the one man in the famous photo whose face can be seen in profile—his father, Navy Corpsman John Bradley. According to James Bradley, John refused to speak of that nightmare, and it wasn't until after the veteran's death that James unearthed not only his father's story, but the stories of all six Marines.

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