I finally saw this movie on DVD. This was supposed to be the nominee for Best Picture, but its companion piece "Letters form Iwo Jima" made as an afterthought ended up being the one up for the Oscar.
The movie is divided in two: the battle for Iwo Jima in which we see the horrific invasion of that island and then the movie cuts to when the three survivors of the plantingg of the flag there were turned into heroes in an effort to raise money for war bonds. So the movie is both a homage to the soldiers who faced overwhelming odds at battle and a strong repudiation of how the government war machine used these soldiers in order to keep the war machinery moving. There is one scene in which the soldiers are asked to restage the planting of the flag in a papier mache hill in the middle of a football game at Soldier Field in Chicago that makes this point very well.
In a way, the movie reflects what we feel about war these days. We feel sympathetic for the soldiers who have to make that horrendous sacrifice while at the same time feel cynicism for the government and the whole military industrial complex.
In a way, this is much better than "Saving Private Ryan", a movie that ends up saying nothing about the war. This one says a lot about the nature of war, courage and decency. Once again Clint Eastwood shows he is the best American director today.
No comments:
Post a Comment