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Overview
User Rating:
Director:
Writers (WGA):
William Broyles Jr. (screenplay) and
Paul Haggis (screenplay) ...
more
Release Date:
20 October 2006 (USA) more
Tagline:
A Single Shot Can End The War more
Plot:
The life stories of the six men who raised the flag at The Battle of Iwo Jima, a turning point in WWII. full summary | full synopsis
Awards:
Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 10 wins & 13 nominations more
NewsDesk:
(51 articles)
Celebrate Veteran’s Day with a War Movie Overload
(From FilmSchoolRejects. 11 November 2009, 2:33 PM, PST)
7 Directors Who Could Handle ‘Dune’
(From FilmSchoolRejects. 28 October 2009, 5:38 PM, PDT)
User Comments:
An amazing accomplishment more (391 total)
Cast
(Cast overview, first billed only)| Ryan Phillippe | ... | John "Doc" Bradley | |
| Jesse Bradford | ... | Rene Gagnon | |
| Adam Beach | ... | Ira Hayes | |
| John Benjamin Hickey | ... | Keyes Beech | |
| John Slattery | ... | Bud Gerber | |
| Barry Pepper | ... | Mike Strank | |
| Jamie Bell | ... | Ralph "Iggy" Ignatowski | |
| Paul Walker | ... | Hank Hansen | |
| Robert Patrick | ... | Colonel Chandler Johnson | |
| Neal McDonough | ... | Captain Severance | |
| Melanie Lynskey | ... | Pauline Harnois | |
| Thomas McCarthy | ... | James Bradley (as Tom McCarthy) | |
| Chris Bauer | ... | Commandant Vandegrift | |
| Judith Ivey | ... | Belle Block | |
| Myra Turley | ... | Madeline Evelley |
Additional Details
MPAA:
Rated R for sequences of graphic war violence and carnage, and for language.
Parents Guide:
Runtime:
132 min
Country:
Language:
Color:
Color (Technicolor)
Aspect Ratio:
2.35 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS
Certification:
UK:15 | Singapore:NC-16 | Finland:K-15 | Australia:MA | USA:R (certificate #42983) | Switzerland:16 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:16 (canton of Geneva) | Ireland:15A | Netherlands:16 | Philippines:R-13 (MTRCB) | Norway:15 | Germany:12 | Hong Kong:IIB | Spain:18 | Portugal:M/12 | South Korea:15 | Argentina:13 | Peru:14 | Argentina:16 | Brazil:16 | New Zealand:R15 | Sweden:15 | Malaysia:18SG (DVD)
Filming Locations:
Backlot, Universal Studios - 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, California, USA more
Company:
Fun Stuff
Trivia:
The film was shipped to theaters under the code-name "Montana". Also, the first reel was shipped separately from the other seven to further prevent piracy. more
Goofs:
Revealing mistakes: In the "Bond Tour" scenes involving old-time microphones, only once is the microphone positioned correctly. When the "Andrews Sisters" vocal trio sings and the men later speak, the black-and-silver RCA 77 ribbon microphones are positioned backwards. They should have been rotated 180 degrees, so that the microphones' fronts and tops would tilt slightly away from the singers/speakers. The same is true for a later scene with one of the men speaking at a lectern with a large gray Altec microphone - it, too, is positioned backwards. more
Quotes:
[first lines]
Soldiers:
Corpsman! Corpsman! Corpsman! Corpsman! For God sakes, corpsman! Corpsman! Corpsman!
more
Movie Connections:
Referenced in "Family Guy: Back to the Woods (#6.9)" (2008) more
Soundtrack:
I'll Walk Alone more
FAQ
Why didn't they stop for the man who fell overboard?How much sex, violence, and profanity are in this movie?
A Note Regarding Spoilers
more
more (391 total)
Message Boards
Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for Flags of Our Fathers (2006) moreRecommendations
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I've always felt that when you fictionalize a story about war, you dishonor the memory of so many people who have a compelling story to tell by choosing to make something up instead *cough*privateryan*cough*.
The problem with war movies about real people is that you have to deal with complexities of character and plot that the genre simply doesn't lend itself easily to.
So when the story at hand aims to pose questions like "what does it mean to do the wrong things for the right reasons" and tries to debunk the popular myth of herodom, there's very little margin for error.
Enter Clint Eastwood. Never one to shy away from challenging stories, this is a much bigger effort than his usual understated character dramas. On the one hand, it doesn't "feel" like a Clint Eastwood movie, but on the other, it feels at home in his themes of used-up heroes -- the person behind the larger than life persona. These are complex characters in very difficult situations, and he presents them in a way that's straightforward and non-judgmental, so we're left to decide the answers to the film's central conflicts ourselves.
To a person, the cast is up to the challenge. It's hard not to admire Ryan Phillippe for a restrained and thoughtful performance, but the real kudos go to Adam Beach. Almost every aspect of Beach's character is cliché, with one minor exception - that's really the way Ira Hayes was. So the challenge was to portray Hayes as a real person despite the cliché, and the result is one of the most heartbreaking and troubling performances in the film. Here's a guy who is portrayed as a hero, who really has no answers at all.
There's a lot not to like about the film. It's not "entertaining" per se, in the same way that any war memorial in DC is not entertaining. Nor is it a particularly approachable film. What it lacks in popcorn-munching entertainment value, it replaces with gravitas. This is an important film, about an important time. It's status as a valuable history lesson is secondary to it's reflections on human nature and our society. As such, it deserves to be seen, and contemplated, and appreciated.
I can't wait for Letters From Iwo Jima (the companion piece, also from Clint Eastwood, told from the Japanese point of view.) Taken together, the scope of this project is breathtaking.