RUTHERFORD ON FILM: ‘Flags of Our Fathers’: Emotional Price of Combat; Politics of Heroism
By Tony RutherfordHuntington News Network Critic
Huntington, WV (HNN) -- Told from the perspective of a so-called “war hero” baring his emotions to a shrink, Clint Eastwood’s “Flags Of Our Fathers” explores not simply the physical toll on the men and women who march off to battle, but the horrendous memories that come home with Johnny or Jane after serving in a war zone.
Situated within the story of the men who planted the flag on the hill of Iwo Jima rests an amalgam of political and manipulated maneuvers to turn the black and white photo of hope and temporary victory into a public relations banner for eliciting more war bond money from Americans to support a nearly bankrupt campaign.
Despite the “truths” surrounding the photo -- such as who actually raised the FIRST flag (there were two) -- three men are selected as the “heroes” of the battle despite the fact that raising the flag, much like the fall of Saddam’s statute in Baghdad, neither won the battle for the mountain nor ended the Second World War.
“Flags of Our Fathers” has one of the aging “heroes” sharing his long buried memories with a counselor. He has “survivor’s” guilt and feels that the real heroes are the ones who met their death on the field of battle. Whisked back to the states to be centerpieces for revitalization of the war bond campaign, they each suffer varying degrees of emotional devastation from exposure to the bloody battle.
Long known by euphemisms, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder has been disguised as “battle fatigue,” “shell shock” or even “cowardice.” During the Viet Nam War PTSD, which is often characterized to flashbacks to intense events from the past as well as lingering anxiety, avoidance behavior, and depression, the diagnosis reached mainstream media. However, the implications of the disorder still stayed attributable to the “weak” or already emotionally wounded. In fact, rather than the inner demons, the stories of vets behaving violently symbolized the diagnosis.
Not until the Oklahoma federal building bombing and the subsequent air crashes into the World Trade Center has PTSD been classified as a disorder that affects not just war vets but victims of any trauma, such as a severe car accident, assault, or other intense event. According to some sources, the vets returning home from Iraq have the highest instance of PTSD of any war.
Eastwood expertly exemplifies the emotional scars throughout by having the “heroes” back home raising flags on paper mache hills at stadiums experiencing vivid “flashbacks” to the realities of the battle which they survived. Champagne may flow, bands may play, women extend hugs, and senators and industrial elitist extend “promises” of work and a “good life” to the survivors whose hellacious and grueling climb to the top of a hill became a fund raising photo opportunity for the leadership.
Underscoring the atrocities of combat, director Eastwood escorts our eyes through hundreds of covered bodies, but he often accentuates the horror through such scenes as a flying helmet with the soldier’s head still inside, the tears shed (or not shed) as a body ruptured by mortar slips away, and others are dismembered or bloodied beyond recognition.
Thus, while celebrating the cult of hero, the men themselves wonder if they deserve the title. Elevating them to be spokespersons for those buried on the sands of the beach wrests sobering moments for them all. And, unlike such classic memoirs as “The Best Years of Our Lives,” the lives of the men who raised the flag do not have automatic happily ever afters.
The manipulation of the political war machine shines crisply through the statues and the red, white, and blue stripes that waver in the wind. One photo may have turned the war around, but the war itself demanded a tremendous toll upon even those who marched home as veterans carrying with them untold stories of those who did not survive.
Certainly, “Flags” will deservedly win award accolades for its acting and realistic portrayal of combat. It should be deeply etched on the eyes and ears of decision makers who all too often sit in plush, peaceful offices overlooking manicured lawns and decide whether to commit our troops to the cruelty, atrocities, and staggering regrets that for a lifetime fill the boots of each returning solder from the battlefield.