It begs comparison with Orson Welles' screen masterpiece "Citizen Kane" in the film's scope and its structure. 'Flags of Our Fathers' an important side of the war that almost vanished into oblivion but thanks to Eastwood and his team, many people today will know about it.Īs directed masterfully by Clint Eastwood, "Flags of Our Fathers" plays both as a war film and a sensitive human drama. All the performances are good but it is Jesse Bradford, Adam Beach and Ryan Phillipe who stand out as the three survivors, particularly Phillipe who is restrained. Eastwood's soundtrack is intense and gives voice to the unspoken words. It starts off with the war sequences and then follows the three surviving flag-raisers revisiting the war in flashbacks. The editing is tight as the movie flows at a smooth pace. War isn't glorified and the aftereffects are shown with subtlety rather than blatant preaching. Even the label of a hero was not enough for Hayes to get a drink at a bar. Eastwood has also briefly but effectively tackled the racism theme. The real truth is ignored, the illusion of a photo is confirmed as truth, the three soldiers are burning in the inside while obliged to parade themselves and then they are left with nothing, just memories of the war. They are extremely effective as are the scenes where the three survivors are being paraded by officers in order to sell military bonds. It reminds me of the early sequences of 'Saving Private Ryan' as its shot with washed out colours and the scenes are just as visceral and hard-hitting. The war sequences are skillfully executed. He captures the time period well on screen. Having always admired Eastwood for tackling complex subjects, he does a wonderful job of telling an event that is not known to many. Sadly, the price of this soundtrack is not worth the 55 seconds of enjoyable music.Haggis, Eastwood and Spielberg team up to tell a less known but poignant story about 6 soldiers who were the second flag-raisers of Iwo Jima and how an event that does not seem so significant is captured on photo and becomes one of the most crucial events in America during WWII. It is a shame that a film depicting such a heroic event in World War II has such an uninspiring score. Clint Eastwood is an amazing director, but like Robert Rodriguez, he needs to stop trying to do everything for his films. One decent track is a jaunty number ("Knock Knock") by Eastwood\'s son Kyle (who co-scored the companion film, Letters from Iwo Jima) it\'s even treated to sound like an old recording. Mixed into the soundtrack between the forgettable score tracks are some Sousa marches, 1940\'s songs, and classical source pieces that effectively set the film in the time period, but don\'t really add much to the album. ![]() The only decent cue on the disc is the first one, "The Photograph", which opens with a quiet French horn theme. And that\'s it it\'s dull and uninteresting. "Flag Raising" is a set of drawn out notes and an occasional snare beat in the background. ![]() ![]() Let\'s take the key moment from the film, the raising of the flag that has inspired so much. "Inland Battle" is a set of quietly changing chords, and I don\'t mean in the same way as The Thin Red Line. The piano dominates the score for the cues not set during the battles and basically repeats the same few short Americana theme. "Armada Arrives" attempts to be heavy and dramatic, but falls flat as soon as the drums stop. Instead, Eastwood provides a low key, nearly minimalist set of cues that have very little linking them together. For a film in the class of Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers, it needed a heroic and patriotic score. This worked in the past for films like Million Dollar Baby, and Mystic River, but this World War II drama needed something more. Instead, he composed the score himself (undoubtedly with some assistance by Lennie Niehaus), as usual. Clint Eastwood, being the highly acclaimed filmmaker Clint Eastwood, could probably hire any composer he thought of to score his latest war epic, including someone like John Williams.
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