There were five Marines and one Navy Corpsman photographed raising the U.S. flag on Mt. Suribachi by Joe Rosenthal on February 23, 1945. This is the story of three of the six surviving servicemen - John 'Doc' Bradley, Pvt. Rene Gagnon and Pvt. Ira Hayes - who fought in the battle to take Iwo Jima from the Japanese.
Nominated for 2 Oscars. 15 wins & 28 nominations total
Top Critics Reviews
rotten:
It feels disrespectful to say it, but this kind of war movie, like war itself, is starting to feel sickeningly familiar.
– Dana Stevens,
Slate,
23 Oct 2006
fresh:
[Flags] fits into Eastwood's late-in-life agenda -- to make violence, even in self-defense, seem soul-killing, and to expose the gulf between reality and myth. After this, how can we ever again make our peace with the iconography of war?
– David Edelstein,
New York Magazine/Vulture,
23 Oct 2006
fresh:
Flags of Our Fathers is an accomplished, stirring, but, all in all, rather strange movie.
– David Denby,
New Yorker,
23 Oct 2006
fresh:
Here, the feelings run very deep, and dark as dried blood, with Clint aware that some things don't need to be said and others shouldn't be shown.
– Geoff Andrew,
Time Out,
30 Dec 2006
fresh:
Eastwood's two-film project is one of the most visionary of all efforts to depict the reality and meaning of battle.