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Flags of Our Fathers [Blu-ray]

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60% Recommended by our customers.
Studio: Paramount
Catalog: DVD
Release date: 2008-06-03
Media: Blu-ray
released in theatres: 2006
Running time in minutes: 132
DVD aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Format: AC-3, Collector's Edition, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Dubbed, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen
DVD Region code: 1
released in theatres: 2006
Ean: 0097361235202
Upc: 097361235202

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Director:

Clint Eastwood

see more Dvds by Clint Eastwood

Actors:

Ryan Phillippe	see more Dvds with Ryan Phillippe
Jesse Bradford	see more Dvds with Jesse Bradford
Adam Beach	see more Dvds with Adam Beach
John Benjamin Hickey	see more Dvds with John Benjamin Hickey

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User Reviews:

Written on March 6, 2008
Summary: dissapointed in film
After watching "letters from Iwo Jima" I expected this movie to be the American version of the battle at Iwo Jima. I expected the movie to tell the story to be told in chronological order of the battle followed by the story of the bond drive made possible by the famous photo of the flag raising. After about 25 minutes Eastwood stopped telling about the battle & started telling about the bond drive by 3 men who raised the flag. After this the battle scenes were basically flashbacks about how the men who raised the flag were killed at Iwo. If I didn't know the history before watching this movie I would not have known who won the battle after watching this movie.
Pete

Written on March 2, 2008
Summary: A Great Film If You Can Tolerate the Flashbacks
Overall one of the best films about the war in the Pacific since TORA,TORA,TORA. Loosely based on the James Bradley book of the same name, Clint Eastwood's direction rescues the Pacific War genre from more recent failed attempts such as THE THIN RED LINE and WINDTALKERS.

The film primarily concentrates on the lives of the three surviving second flag raisers on Mount Suribachi. The famous photograph was the second of two flags raised on the collapsed volcanic rim on Iwo Jima with the names of the first flag raisers almost virtually forgotten except for history books. The movie does a great job in clearly resolving the lore regarding the two flags.

Great CGI effects of the US fleet pounding the basalt and sulpherous island. The island assault sequences were lensed in the same style as PRIVATE RYAN and BAND OF BROTHERS with washed out color and a lot of hand held camera activity.

As for opportunities this film becomes annoying with constant flashbacks and flash-forwards from the embattled volcanic isle. Flashbacks worked well at the beginning and conclusion of SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, but it is a distraction in FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS. Unlike the companion film, LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA, which is more or less a sequential story with occasional flahsbacks, FLAGS is chock full of them. The best continuous sequence of the film is the IWO landing sequence and struggle to move inland.

Despite the well depicted story of two Marines and Navy Corpsman struggling through the war bond tour, the whole post Iwo drama pales in comparison to the action on island. No doubt the island combat flashbacks were inserted to maintain the intensity of the film. Quite frankly I would have enjoyed a whole film revolving around these characters and their experiences on Iwo Jima alone. Much as I did actually enjoy this movie and LETTERS, there is a signficant opportunity to create yet a third hybrid version of the Iwo battle combining the best elements of both stand-alone movies.

Eastwood captured the look and mood of 1945 America and the bond tour. The only aspect that is overplayed is that of the United States being almost bankrupt and the heavy sales burden placed on the returning heroes. These guys are wined and dined across the United States and forced into roles they never asked for. Toward the end of the film one cannot help but feel sorry for the well known story of poor Ira Hayes and his inability to adjust to his celebrity status and ultimate decline.

FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS is a very good movie, but loses some of its power on a small television screen. In the movies theater I was impressed by the end credits and the ominous end title music with actual photos of the Iwo Jima struggle projected alongside the film's credits. I could not bring myself to leave the theater until the credits concluded. FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS is another film where theater audience exited in total silence during the end credits.

Eastwood filmed in a variety of locations. The production crew did an outstanding job filming many of the Iwo Jima scene in Iceland. The Icelandic beaches and inshore volcanic terrain are very similar to the basaltic and tuffa volcanic isle.

Written on February 24, 2008
Summary: Good intentions but mixed results
As a piece of sociopolitical analysis on how war propaganda and iconography is constructed and applied, and how the mainstream population is systematically manipulated by the ruling class into getting behind the war effort, Eastwood's film is brilliant and extremely timely in this day and age, especially in light of the disastrous Iraq war that Bush-Cheney-Rove-Halliburton bamboozled our country into. We see, again and again, and again and again, just how ridiculous, cynical and heartless the government's exploitation of these 3 random soldiers was, in converting one sensationalized photograph into millions of Americans buying the war bonds which were desperately needed to maintain the war effort.

As film narrative though, I have to agree with the other reviewers that it's difficult to get too emotionally involved in this picture. The main characters are not fully fleshed out, and the constant flashbacks to battle scenese while they are out on the war-bonds promotional tour feel very fragmented and disruptive to the overall flow of the story. I found myself getting pretty restless during the last 30 minutes or so of this film.

The battle scenes themselves, while not on par with the first 20 minutes of Spielberg's "Saving Private Ryan," are fairly good. Kind of spare and restrained, like much of the movie.

Eastwood to his credit does throw in enough quietly subversive moments to keep this film interesting, such as when he has President Truman tell the Adam Beach character that as a native American, he is "more of a real American" than any of the other white men in the room. Highly unlikely exchange, since Truman was a known racist, who once wrote in a letter to his future wife in 1911: "I think one man is just as good as another so long as he's not a nigger or a Chinaman. Uncle Will says that the Lord made a White man from dust, a nigger from mud, then He threw up what was left and it came down a Chinaman. He does hate Chinese and Japs. So do I. It is race prejudice, I guess. But I am strongly of the opinion Negroes ought to be in Africa, Yellow men in Asia and White men in Europe and America."

Written on February 22, 2008
Summary: Flags of our Fathers
Excellent movie, never realized how ruthless the Japanese were and how tough a battle our boys fought back then.

Written on February 9, 2008
Summary: Incredible
Clint Eastwood, in my eyes will forever be considered the greatest contributor to American Cinema and this is one of the reasons why. He is not only a great actor but he is a spectacular Director, of course not forgetting Million Dollar Baby & The Unforgiven are just 2 movies that he can add his name to which will forever cement his prestigious image.

Flags of our Fathers tells the true story of 6 soldiers who became immortalised by just one picture of the American flag being raised on Mount Suribachi of the Island of Iwo Jima. The battle for Iwo Jima has long been considered one of the biggest battles that the Americans faced during WWII, and this is something that Eastwood displays to us in the epic film. Of the 6 men in the photograph only 3 survived the battle to be brought home and welcolmed as heroes. These men were Ira Hayes (Adam Beach), Rene Gagnon (Jesse Bradford) and John "Doc" Bradley (Ryan Phillipe).

The photograph became monumental in the eyes of the American people and it quickly became a symbol of hope for a country that was in crippling debt and seemed to be losing the war. The American people weren't told the truth about the flag raising, the raising itself wasn't the first. There was a flag raised before the one in the photograph but was ordered to be taken down and replaced as it was seen as too small to be seen from nearby landing beaches. Because of this picture the 3 living soldiers gained a new found celebrity and they each handled it in their own particular way. Hayes was lead on from the start and simply kept his opinions and dreads to himself, while drinking away his sorrows. Gagnon simply enjoyed the new found fame and took it in his stride, and even to some extent tried to prolonge his celebrity image. Bradley simply voiced his opinions and had a sense of guilt that he shouldn't allow the soldiers who raised the original flag to be forgotten. He simply had to obey the orders of his superiors and continue with the farce that they were the first men to take Mount Suribachi and they were the first to raise the American Flag.

I adored this film but as much as it pains me to say it, it does have its flaws which as an objective reviewer I have to address. The battle scenes are simply first class and something as to which Eastwood truly excels himself as they are something beyond epic. The alternate scenes however which place the 3 main soldiers at home handling their own particular troubles seem a bit too try hard and that, I felt took a lot away from a film that had so much potential. An example of it being a bit too try hard was how Eastwood portrayed Hayes becoming the depressed drunk. Although this may have been a true representation, I felt Eastwood was simply trying to make us cry and that is something that shouldn't be forced upon people. Good character direction and true character representation is something that can make us feel sad for a persons downfall, however people can also pick up on something that simply seemed to be trying to make us sad.

Although it had its flaws this was still a very entertaining and epic film that I found to be quite enjoyable. This also has a good edge to it with the alternative film Letters from Iwo Jima which tells the Japanese side of the story also Directed by Eastwood. Letters from Iwo Jima is certainly the better of the two but Flags of our Fathers is still a very good film in its own right.

I would recommend this to any film lover as even with its flaws it has something to offer everybody.

Comparison map

Wondering how the DVD "Flags of Our Fathers [Blu-ray]" relates to similar DVDs? Find out at a glance here:

Price comparison	Flags of Our Fathers [Blu-ray]	Letters from Iwo Jima [Blu-ray]	Babel [Blu-ray]	Flyboys [Blu-ray]	The Departed (Two-Disc Special Edition)	Blood Diamond [Blu-ray]
Our price	$17.49	$19.95	$17.49	$19.99	$13.99	$19.95
List price	$29.99	$34.99	$29.99	$29.98	$34.99	$28.99
Lowest used price	$10.99	$12.85	$10.50	$9.30	$4.33	$10.55
Lowest new price	$14.85	$17.99	$15.14	$14.19	$6.21	$10.98
Collectible price	-	$35.89	-	$29.98	$34.99	$29.95
Catalog	DVD	DVD	DVD	DVD	DVD	DVD
Release date	2008-06-03	2007-05-22	2008-06-03	2007-01-30	2007-02-13	2007-06-05
Media	Blu-ray	Blu-ray	Blu-ray	Blu-ray	DVD	Blu-ray
released in theatres	2006	2006	2006	2006	2006-10-06	2006
Running time in minutes	132	140	143	140	151	143
DVD aspect ratio	2.35:1	2.35:1	2.35:1	2.35:1	2.35:1	2.40:1
Audience Rating	R (Restricted)	R (Restricted)	R (Restricted)	PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)	R (Restricted)	R (Restricted)
Format	AC-3, Collector's Edition, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Dubbed, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen	Closed-captioned, Color, Widescreen	AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, Subtitled, Widescreen	Anamorphic, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Subtitled	AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC	AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, Subtitled, Widescreen
DVD Region code	1	1	1	1	1	-
Ean	0097361235202	0085391112884	0097361222141	0027616065292	0085391132882	0085391117674
Upc	097361235202	085391112884	097361222141	027616065292	085391132882	085391117674
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Flags of Our Fathers [Blu-ray]