Flags of Our Fathers (2006)

[Juan Miranda]

I see old leather-features is currently shooting an adaptation of James Bradley's intensely moving book, FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS. It charts the lives of the six  men who raised the flag in that famous photo on Iwo Jima.

If it turns out as great as the book, there won't be a dry eye in the house at the end, and Clint will be strolling off with another arm full of awards.

Loads of photos and info here:

http://www.flagsofourfathers.net/

[Amaze]

who raised the flag? lol, what is this about really?

I see, found this:

Flags of Our Fathers is based on a New York Times Bestseller book (year 2000) of the same name and is about a man's quest to learn more about his father, a medical corpsman in WWII at the Battle of Iwo Jima. More than 22,000 Japanese soldiers would die defending a patch of ground a third the size of Manhattan, while nearly 26,000 Americans fell taking it from them. The battle, the largest sea armada invasion ever assembled and the costliest war ever fought by the US Marines, was also a turning point in the war because control of the island of Iwo Jima (Japanese territory) allowed Allied forces to launch B-29 bomber raids into the heart of Japan with the eventual dropping of the Atomic Bomb that would end WWII.

The battle would produce one of World War II's most enduring images: a photograph of six soldiers raising an American flag on the top of Mount Suribachi, the island's commanding high point.



sounds like it could be a good one, if it's not too dramatic. and let's hope they keep the military out of it. they butcher all the films they take part in. it's just politics, I understand, but leave art alone. I have faith in Clint though.

[HEX]

i remember distinctly hearing from my teacher in fourth grade about the picture where the six soldiers are holding up the flag. and i remember her saying something that will stay with me for as long as i live. she said that in the photo there can be seen 13 hands trying to raise the flag. there were six soldiers so there could only possibly be 12 hands, but according to some a thirteenth one can be seen as well. and most say it is the hand of GOD.


now i dont know how much of that was my teachers own opinion because i have seen that picture and the memorial many times and have never seen "THE HAND OF GOD"

but never the less she said what she said, and it will remain within my memory forever(whether she was on drugs when she told us or not.)

[Amaze]

she was probably just a churchgoer. but still a funny thing to say

[Juan Miranda]

*some true life story spoilers*

Based on the true story of the men in this picture, allegedly the most reproduced photograph of all time:



It's already inspired a couple of films and a song. In the John Wayne starring SANDS OF IWO JIMA, the surviving flag raisers briefly appear, and the action is reproduced Hollywood style.

i.e. Rather slowly. Since the area was still under heavy fire at the time, the actual raising (which was also caught on movie film) happened rather speedily. SANDS... is rather tawdry, as Wayne's character is killed a few moments later, and Wayne rather notoriously shirked serving in WWII, unlike almost any other Hollywood star you care to mention.

Within a few weeks of the Iwo Jima photo being taken, half the men in it had been killed in action.

The other main Hollywood movie inspired by the image was the story of native American Ira Hayes (Johnny Cash also wrote a ballard about about him). THE OUTSIDER starred Tony Curtis as Ira, who came home a hero, saw his family and tribe treated like dirt, and drank himself into an early grave.

Loads of pics and info about this, currently still in production movie here:

http://www.flagsofourfathers.net/

[Sundance]

I wonder if  they will include in the story about how there actually were two flags raised and the famous photo is from the second flag raising. 

http://www.ap.org/pages/about/pulitzer/rosenthal.html

[Juan Miranda]

Just found out that Joe Rosenthal, who shot the photo the FLAGS film is based around died a week ago, aged 94.

[Blueberry]

Weel this is the most staged photo to live in public memory - This Joe Rosenthal would have been a great director, coz this is certainly directed...

[Tim]

  Of course, I couldn't understand all of the trailer cause it was in Japanese, but the trailer definitely looked good, and the cast should be pretty good too.

[Juan Miranda]

Weel this is the most staged photo to live in public memory - This Joe Rosenthal would have been a great director, coz this is certainly directed...

What fucking bollocks! The photo was shot under enemy fire, and the raising was also captured by two movie cameramen from 2 different angles, one in colour standing slightly behind Rosenthal and to his left (if memory serves right).

Please do some research before you s.h.i.t all over someone's reputation like this, especially if they are so recently deceased.

[dave jenkins]

Juan is right, the photo was not staged. In fact, if I remember the story correctly, the photographer almost missed the shot.

[titoli]

Maybe (maybe) some confusion is made with the staging of the photo of the russian soldiers on the Reichstag.

[Juan Miranda]

If anybody actually cares to read this thread, Sundance's post above address's and answers the "was it faked" question which has long hung over this image.

Why do some folk have to build a "conspiracy" around just about every thing?

[Blueberry]

Well I am truly sorry - but "objective" displays of heroic patriotism in times of war just make me suspicious. From all nations, USA not least.

Not meaning to offend anyone. Propaganda efforts in such times, we all know, is of utmost importance. This photo certainly looks like such an effort. And as such it has been used.

To say that a good phographic moment is "staged" is maybe to loaded - but we all know that photographers "stage" - meaning they ask for people to do this or that or to turn their head - just choosing a certain angle is to some extent "staging". They interact with the scene. They are not "not there".

Objectivity is dead. All is representation. There can be no "fly on the wall". And most modern photographers and documentary film makers realize this.

I admire the photo in question here. It served it's purpose and is beautifully composed and shot. This is a statement of admiration and respect for Rosenthal - a photogapher who knew what he was doing at the right time at the right place.

[dave jenkins]

Saw the trailer this week at a showing of The Departed. Looked somewhat disappointing, since it seemed to be as much about the bond tour after the battle than the battle itself. I'd rather have the action than all the talk. Here's a more thorough report, but chuck full o' spoilers:
http://hollywoodreporter.com/thr/reviews/review_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003223436