Historical Accuracy
In most war movies, the directors and actors usually try to depict the war as it occurred. In Flags of Our Fathers, realism shows throughout the whole movie. “Realism is not a simple or unitary term; generally speaking, it relates to mimesis, or imitation or reality, in the arts” (Corrigan, Timothy). In Flags of Our Fathers, directed by Clint Eastwood, three soldiers, John “Doc” Bradley (Ryan Phillippe), Rene Gagnon (Jesse Bradford), and Ira Hayes (Adam Beach) are photographed and believed to be heroes ("Flags of Our Fathers - World War II Multimedia Database"). Realism shows through the different scenes of Flags of Our Father, while some of them may have really occurred; some did not. The scene where the characters came off the boat onto Iwo Jima depicts accurately. “Even if they depict standard shell fire and bullet wounds instead of the rolling barrages that wreaked havoc on the landing beaches” ("Flags of Our Fathers - World War II Multimedia Database"). It also shows how some of the main characters have posttraumatic stress disorder.
“"Flags" delivers authentic dramatized depictions of combat-related PTSD. For Ira Hayes the most prominent features we see are extreme survivor guilt, depression, social dysfunction, and alcohol abuse to temporarily assuage his psychic pain. Doc Bradley suffers from lifelong combat experiencing symptoms, insomnia, and his own version of survivor guilt: He won't talk about his war experiences with loved ones, a common form of avoidance” ("Postcombat PTSD in the movies - page 2 |Clinical Psychiatry News").
Another sign of realism shown in Flags of Our Fathers, are the few scenes that showed the Japanese tortured to the American soldiers. The way that Iggy died was from Japanese torture, “Iggy is not at the foxhole when Bradley returns and it happens to be days later before he discovers what happened - Iggy was captured, tortured and killed by the Japanese” ("FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS: Iwo Jima - Windows Live"). This movie shows realism in many different ways.
The battle scenes in Flags of Our Fathers, are for the most part depicted accurately. While many people think the American soldiers were attacked while getting off the boats, they did not. They were attacked once on land,
“The Japanese positions on the island were heavily fortified, with vast bunkers, hidden artillery, and 18 km (11 mi) of underground tunnels. The Americans were covered by extensive naval and air support, capableof putting an enormous amount of firepower onto the Japanese positions.nThe battle was the first American attack on the Japanese Home Islands, and the Imperial soldiers defended their positions tenaciously. ("Battle of Iwo Jima -").
In addition, they did arrive to the island on boats, and since the boats were traveling at a certain speed with other boats behind them, they did not stop for anyone, not even a fallen soldier (Flags of Our Father). Flags of Our Father shows how both the Japanese and the American fought. It clearly depicted that the Americans went on the island by boat, and when they were once on land, they went by foot and tank. In the Battle of Iwo Jima, the Japanese built many tunnels in the land and fought through those tunnels.
“The Japanese commander at Iwo Jima, Tadamichi Kuribyashi of the 109th Imperial Army Infantry Division, changed the tactics from the previous commander, who advocated a defense of the beach, to extensive tunneling throughout the hot volcanic island. After allowing the Marines to land and build up some confidence on the beach, he unleashed his plan to deliver presighted, withering fire on the landing beaches” ("Flags of Our Fathers - World War II Multimedia Database").
Through those tunnels, they were able to attack the American in disguise.
During the movies, Doc Bradley and Ira Hayes show signs of posttraumatic stress disorder. They constantly have flashbacks or the war and their friends dying. Which many soldiers still show sign of posttraumatic stress disorder today, Ira Hayes constantly acts out. He gets in bar fights, cries, and he is a complete mess. “Ira Hayes, suffering through what would be called post-traumatic stress disorder, cannot forgive himself for living when his friends are dead, and embarrasses the Marines through his emotional meetings with the dead flagraiser’s mothers and his public drunkenness.”("Flags of Our Fathers - World War II Multimedia Database"). Ira Hayes never gets over his lose, and he does not have a chance to make much of a life for himself, since many people discriminated against him. He also never forgives himself for leaving the battle field and leaving his friends, “Ira Hayes the most prominent features we see are extreme survivor guilt, depression, social dysfunction, and alcohol abuse to temporarily assuage his psychic pain” ("Postcombat PTSD in the movies - page 2 | Clinical Psychiatry News"). Doc Bradley also has posttraumatic stress disorder, but to a lesser degree. “Doc Bradley suffers from lifelong combat experiencing symptoms, insomnia, and his own version of survivor guilt: He won't talk about his war experiences with loved ones, a common form of avoidance” ("Postcombat PTSD in the movies - page 2 | Clinical Psychiatry News"). While his son is writing a book about his journey, he refuses to tell some details. In the movie, he has dreams of that night with Iggy in the foxhole, which is a sign of posttraumatic stress disorder. He constantly relives what happened that night.
Another realistic part of Flags of Our Father is the way some of the men actually died. While most died in battle, the ones that did not, were captured by the Japanese were tortured. In one of the scenes Ira Hayes looks at a few pictures, after being taunted, he shows his crewmates what they really are. The pictures showed American prisoners of war being tortured and murdered (Flags of Our Father). Then Doc actually sees the aftermath of the torture when he discovers his friend Iggy. While in battle Doc Bradley left his friend Iggy on the foxhole, when he comes back he is gone. Later, they discover a trap door in the foxhole. Then after that Doc Bradley is shown the tortured Iggy’s body ( Flags of Our Father). What they do not show you in the movie is the way he was actually tortured, “Ignatowski was tortured, the Japanese ripped out his fingernails, eyes, ears, captured him and teeth, cut off his penis and stuffed it into his mouth, and then smashed in his skull” ("Flags of Our Fathers - World War II Multimedia Database”). Clint Eastwood made sure that viewers had a real feel to what the war felt like.
Flags of Our Fathers shows realism in many different ways. Even though he may have not gotten every detail accurate, he was close. He shows the way the soldiers fought the war. Clint Eastwood also shows how they dealt afterward with the war, which shows how recent soldiers deal with the war also. He also showed what obstacles and what other types of “villains” they had to face. Flags of Our Fathers is a close depiction of what really occurred during World War II.
Works Cited
"Battle of Iwo Jima -." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Web. 08 Feb. 2010..
Corrigan, Timothy. Film Experience. Bedford/st Martins, 2008. Print.
Flags of Our Father. Dir. Clint Eastwood. Perf. Ryan Phillippe, Jesse Bradford, Adam Beach. Dreamworks Pictures, 2006. DVD.
"Flags of Our Fathers - World War II Multimedia Database." World War II Multmedia Database. Web. 08 Feb. 2010..
"FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS: Iwo Jima - Windows Live." Arctic Shores Contemporary Reviews - Windows Live. Web. 08 Feb. 2010..
"Postcombat PTSD in the movies - page 2 | Clinical Psychiatry News." Find Articles at BNET | News Articles, Magazine Back Issues & Reference Articles on All Topics. Web. 08 Feb. 2010..
In most war movies, the directors and actors usually try to depict the war as it occurred. In Flags of Our Fathers, realism shows throughout the whole movie. “Realism is not a simple or unitary term; generally speaking, it relates to mimesis, or imitation or reality, in the arts” (Corrigan, Timothy). In Flags of Our Fathers, directed by Clint Eastwood, three soldiers, John “Doc” Bradley (Ryan Phillippe), Rene Gagnon (Jesse Bradford), and Ira Hayes (Adam Beach) are photographed and believed to be heroes ("Flags of Our Fathers - World War II Multimedia Database"). Realism shows through the different scenes of Flags of Our Father, while some of them may have really occurred; some did not. The scene where the characters came off the boat onto Iwo Jima depicts accurately. “Even if they depict standard shell fire and bullet wounds instead of the rolling barrages that wreaked havoc on the landing beaches” ("Flags of Our Fathers - World War II Multimedia Database"). It also shows how some of the main characters have posttraumatic stress disorder.
“"Flags" delivers authentic dramatized depictions of combat-related PTSD. For Ira Hayes the most prominent features we see are extreme survivor guilt, depression, social dysfunction, and alcohol abuse to temporarily assuage his psychic pain. Doc Bradley suffers from lifelong combat experiencing symptoms, insomnia, and his own version of survivor guilt: He won't talk about his war experiences with loved ones, a common form of avoidance” ("Postcombat PTSD in the movies - page 2 |Clinical Psychiatry News").
Another sign of realism shown in Flags of Our Fathers, are the few scenes that showed the Japanese tortured to the American soldiers. The way that Iggy died was from Japanese torture, “Iggy is not at the foxhole when Bradley returns and it happens to be days later before he discovers what happened - Iggy was captured, tortured and killed by the Japanese” ("FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS: Iwo Jima - Windows Live"). This movie shows realism in many different ways.
The battle scenes in Flags of Our Fathers, are for the most part depicted accurately. While many people think the American soldiers were attacked while getting off the boats, they did not. They were attacked once on land,
“The Japanese positions on the island were heavily fortified, with vast bunkers, hidden artillery, and 18 km (11 mi) of underground tunnels. The Americans were covered by extensive naval and air support, capableof putting an enormous amount of firepower onto the Japanese positions.nThe battle was the first American attack on the Japanese Home Islands, and the Imperial soldiers defended their positions tenaciously. ("Battle of Iwo Jima -").
In addition, they did arrive to the island on boats, and since the boats were traveling at a certain speed with other boats behind them, they did not stop for anyone, not even a fallen soldier (Flags of Our Father). Flags of Our Father shows how both the Japanese and the American fought. It clearly depicted that the Americans went on the island by boat, and when they were once on land, they went by foot and tank. In the Battle of Iwo Jima, the Japanese built many tunnels in the land and fought through those tunnels.
“The Japanese commander at Iwo Jima, Tadamichi Kuribyashi of the 109th Imperial Army Infantry Division, changed the tactics from the previous commander, who advocated a defense of the beach, to extensive tunneling throughout the hot volcanic island. After allowing the Marines to land and build up some confidence on the beach, he unleashed his plan to deliver presighted, withering fire on the landing beaches” ("Flags of Our Fathers - World War II Multimedia Database").
Through those tunnels, they were able to attack the American in disguise.
During the movies, Doc Bradley and Ira Hayes show signs of posttraumatic stress disorder. They constantly have flashbacks or the war and their friends dying. Which many soldiers still show sign of posttraumatic stress disorder today, Ira Hayes constantly acts out. He gets in bar fights, cries, and he is a complete mess. “Ira Hayes, suffering through what would be called post-traumatic stress disorder, cannot forgive himself for living when his friends are dead, and embarrasses the Marines through his emotional meetings with the dead flagraiser’s mothers and his public drunkenness.”("Flags of Our Fathers - World War II Multimedia Database"). Ira Hayes never gets over his lose, and he does not have a chance to make much of a life for himself, since many people discriminated against him. He also never forgives himself for leaving the battle field and leaving his friends, “Ira Hayes the most prominent features we see are extreme survivor guilt, depression, social dysfunction, and alcohol abuse to temporarily assuage his psychic pain” ("Postcombat PTSD in the movies - page 2 | Clinical Psychiatry News"). Doc Bradley also has posttraumatic stress disorder, but to a lesser degree. “Doc Bradley suffers from lifelong combat experiencing symptoms, insomnia, and his own version of survivor guilt: He won't talk about his war experiences with loved ones, a common form of avoidance” ("Postcombat PTSD in the movies - page 2 | Clinical Psychiatry News"). While his son is writing a book about his journey, he refuses to tell some details. In the movie, he has dreams of that night with Iggy in the foxhole, which is a sign of posttraumatic stress disorder. He constantly relives what happened that night.
Another realistic part of Flags of Our Father is the way some of the men actually died. While most died in battle, the ones that did not, were captured by the Japanese were tortured. In one of the scenes Ira Hayes looks at a few pictures, after being taunted, he shows his crewmates what they really are. The pictures showed American prisoners of war being tortured and murdered (Flags of Our Father). Then Doc actually sees the aftermath of the torture when he discovers his friend Iggy. While in battle Doc Bradley left his friend Iggy on the foxhole, when he comes back he is gone. Later, they discover a trap door in the foxhole. Then after that Doc Bradley is shown the tortured Iggy’s body ( Flags of Our Father). What they do not show you in the movie is the way he was actually tortured, “Ignatowski was tortured, the Japanese ripped out his fingernails, eyes, ears, captured him and teeth, cut off his penis and stuffed it into his mouth, and then smashed in his skull” ("Flags of Our Fathers - World War II Multimedia Database”). Clint Eastwood made sure that viewers had a real feel to what the war felt like.
Flags of Our Fathers shows realism in many different ways. Even though he may have not gotten every detail accurate, he was close. He shows the way the soldiers fought the war. Clint Eastwood also shows how they dealt afterward with the war, which shows how recent soldiers deal with the war also. He also showed what obstacles and what other types of “villains” they had to face. Flags of Our Fathers is a close depiction of what really occurred during World War II.
Works Cited
"Battle of Iwo Jima -." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Web. 08 Feb. 2010.
Corrigan, Timothy. Film Experience. Bedford/st Martins, 2008. Print.
Flags of Our Father. Dir. Clint Eastwood. Perf. Ryan Phillippe, Jesse Bradford, Adam Beach. Dreamworks Pictures, 2006. DVD.
"Flags of Our Fathers - World War II Multimedia Database." World War II Multmedia Database. Web. 08 Feb. 2010.
"FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS: Iwo Jima - Windows Live." Arctic Shores Contemporary Reviews - Windows Live. Web. 08 Feb. 2010.
"Postcombat PTSD in the movies - page 2 | Clinical Psychiatry News." Find Articles at BNET | News Articles, Magazine Back Issues & Reference Articles on All Topics. Web. 08 Feb. 2010.
