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Flags of Our Fathers
R1 - America - Paramount Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Noor Razzak (11th February 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 a terrific transfer that is sharp, crisp and clean. The muted colors are accurately represented here, blacks are bold and deep with shadow detail remaining consistently good throughout the print. I noticed no compression problems, no dirt, edge-enhancements of any kind, although I did spot some very minor moiré effect against some line patterns and a slight amount of jagged edges on occasion but nothing that was ultimately too distracting. Otherwise it's a fine effort from Paramount.
Audio
Three audio tracks are included, an English Dolby Digital 5.1 as well as a French Dolby Digital 5.1 surround track along with an English Dolby Digital 2.0 surround track. For the purposes of this review I chose to view the film with its English 5.1 track and found it to be of reference quality. The dialogue is clean and distortion free but the true grunt of this track takes place during the battle scenes and the aggressive nature comes out in spades with the surround channels continuously active adding to the environment of bullets flying across, shells going off and planes flying in and out of combat zones. The track displays a wonderful dynamic range and depth normally reserved for uncompressed audio tracks or full bit rate DTS tracks. It's simply fantastic. Optional subtitles are included in both English and Spanish.
Extras
The only extras that Paramount has seen fit to include are a pair of bonus trailers for "Letters From Iwo Jima" which runs for 2 minutes 32 seconds and "Babel" which runs for 2 minutes 34 seconds. Both of these trailers are start-up previews.
Overall
This DVD has all the markings of a rushed release no chapter menu on the DVD, no extras and released just in time for the theatrical release of "Letters from Iwo Jima" and award season. You can bet a Special Edition will follow in the coming months so for the time being this one's worth a rental if you haven't yet seen it and wait for a decent edition before purchasing a copy.
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