nocomment's Journal: Flags of Our Fathers (short and spoiler free)

I recently read the book "Flags of Our Fathers" about the invasion of Iwo Jima, and the flag raisers of the same.

Very very good book. Gives a whole new definition of the word hero, that I don't think I ever comprehended before. I cannot give the book justice by describing it here. Go buy it.

I then went and saw the movie on Saturday. While movies are rarely as good as the book, and it's also true in this instance you should go see that before it's pulled from the theaters. Even if it means you have to see the movie before you read the book. That's not the recommended order for this movie but since it's been out a while, you might have to.

They said when "Saving Private Ryan" came out, that it had the most realistic battle scenes up to that point. I think "Flags of Our Fathers" has set the new standard. I was tense the whole time the invasion was happening.

A couple of things that I wish they had worked into the movie though was the fact that the Japanese had pointed their anti-aircraft guns at the beach. They showed them, but didn't mention what type of guns they were. I think that would have added to the drama of the fight.

Another thing was that they thought there was about 12,000 soldiers on the island but that there was closer to twice that. In the movie they do say that there is 12,000 (which was accurate for the time they were talking about it) but never correct that.

This movie was so good, that at the end of the movie, nobody in the theater moved an inch or said anything. They just all watched the credits roll. I guess they were having a tough time letting the message and the appalling nature of the battle sink in.

Great movie.

[Short Circuit]

I got to see it free, at a screening. I'm not one for war movies, but this one was great.

Re:

[nocomment]

I like the historical ones. The John Wayne "sands of iwo jima" I'll pass on. Band of Brothers, Saving Private Ryans, etc... I can watch over and over.

Did the same thing happen when you saw it? Did everyone just sit there and look at the pictures and watch the credits roll?

So what does it matter?

[perfessor multigeek]

I'm curious to see what the impact is of increasingly realisic war movies. Will they help reduce the number of people without a clue?

When I was a kid I went through a typical "ooh, cool, war!" phase that dropped off real sudden-like when my stepfather, an ex-drill sargent, took me aside, gave me a talking to, and showed me pictures from the then still underway Vietnam War of stuff like guys with their genitals blown open. Took all the John Wayne right out of me.

So I ask again, what does this all matter? I

Re:

[nocomment]

That's actually the point. It doesn't glorify it in any way. While it doesn't specifically show genitals blown open, it does show quite a bit of others things blown open.

The point of the movie wasn't to entertain. It was to educate, and pass a little of the horror off. It was not a fun movie. Like I said, at the end of the movie nobody moved. They just all sat there. They didn't have a good time, they were glad (I think) to have seen it, but beyond that, there wasn't any joking around.

By contrast Joh