You really can’t talk about one of these movies without the other, just as you really shouldn’t watch one without the other. They’re absolutely two parts of the same work, a jawdropping endeavor in description alone showing two sides of the same battle from deep within the perspective of the two opposing cultures.

“Flags” – bear with me – I really didn’t like this one so much. Aside from its minor unique element, the controversy over the famous picture of soldiers raising the flag over Iwo Jima, it is really nothing more than a mix-up of Saving Private Ryan and The Thin Red Line, both of which did this better than this not long ago enough for anyone to really need to do it again. Like so many war movies before it, it delivers the message that war is hell, that it is not a great and beautiful thing to die for one’s country, etc. I really couldn’t find anything new in it that would bring me back for another look.

On the other hand, it must be said that the moment “Letters from Iwo Jima” begins, you know that it wouldn’t be the same without that stepping stone. “Iwo Jima” is the great movie, rightly nominated over “Flags” for the Best Picture Oscar. The best thing I can say about “Flags” – and don’t get me wrong, I do consider it quite a huge thing – is that Clint Eastwood and co. deserve a lot of praise for putting as much work into it as “Letters”, despite its glaring insignificance, and making it absolutely the best movie it could be. On the technical side “Flags”, like “Letters”, is absolutely faultless.

As to “Letters” – Like I said, this is what it’s all about. Emotionally exhausting and morally complex as Mystic River (eep, and I worry about the length of my reviews now, lol), this is by leaps and bounds the great movie of this fairly amazing project. It has the really harrowing imagery that is extraordinarily absent from the “Flags” (okay, notwithstanding the disembodied head), it has an eerie peace about it that is absolutely unique to the genre (I’m even counting The Thin Red Line here). Even the score is vastly improved. It’s clear that this is the movie Eastwood was working towards. It’s very slow moving, as is “Flags”, but in this case it’s a much heavier and rewarding experience.

This entry was posted on Monday, September 10th, 2007 at 12:28 am in 4 hearts, Movie Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.