Review – Flags of Our Fathers

Clint Eastwood bakes up a batch of Saving Private Ryan, the recipe that insists if you throw enough money at a World War Two picture that it will come out profound. Of course after several years of brainless boosterism in this country, it’s a step in the right direction to be able to state publicly that war might in fact be hell, that even a morally-unambiguous conflict can exact a high toll in lives and spirits. Screen time is shared between action sequences from the battle for Iwo Jima and the publicity tour later endured by the three flag-raisers who survived the fight. I applaud Eastwood for producing an honest picture; the story takes a more-or-less unflinching look at the consequences of war, neither romanticizing nor condemning the endeavor and its participants. Mildly amusing