Buy Flags of Our Fathers on DVD

Flags of Our Fathers

DVD Widescreen More Info Close Caption: Yes Region Code: 1 UPC: 097361178240 Catalog #: DL2415952 Languages: English Dolby Digital 5.1 (Primary), French Dolby Digital Surround, English subtitles, Spanish subtitles	Usually ships in 5-10 days	$17.99 (10% off) List Price: ~~$19.99~~
DVD Widescreen 2-disc set More Info 2-disc Special Collector's Edition Close Caption: No Region Code: 1 UPC: 097361235141 Catalog #: DL2415955 Languages: English Dolby Digital 5.1 (Primary), French Dolby Digital Surround, English subtitles, Spanish subtitles	Usually ships in 5-10 days	$31.49 (10% off) List Price: ~~$34.99~~
Blu-ray More Info Close Caption: No Region Code: 1 UPC: 097361235202 Catalog #: DB2415953 Languages: English Dolby Digital 5.1 (Primary), French Dolby Digital Surround, English subtitles, Spanish subtitles	Usually ships in 5-10 days	$35.99 (10% off) List Price: ~~$39.99~~

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From the liner notes

From Academy Award-winning director Clint Eastwood (Million Dollar Baby, Unforgiven) comes the World Was II epic "Flags of Our Fathers, produced by Eastwood, Academy Award winner Steven Spielberg (Saving Private Ryan, Schindler’s List), and Rob Lorenz (Mystic River). February 1945. Even as victory in Europe was finally within reach, the war in the Pacific raged on.

One of the most crucial and bloodiest battles of the war was the struggle for the island of Iwo Jima, which culminated with what would become one of the most iconic images in history: five Marines and a Navy corpsman raising the American flag on Mount Suribachi. The inspiring photo capturing that moment became a symbol of victory to a nation that had grown weary of war and made instant heroes of the six American soldiers at the base of the flag, some of whom would die soon after, never knowing that they had been immortalized. But the surviving flag raisers had no interest in being held up as symbols and did not consider themselves heroes; they wanted only to stay on the front with their brothers in arms who were fighting and dying without fanfare or glory.

Flags of Our Fathers is based on the bestselling book by James Bradley with Ron Powers, which chronicled the battle of Iwo Jima and the fates of the flag raisers and some of their brothers in Easy Company. Bradley’s father, John Doc Bradley, was one of the soldiers pictured raising the flag, although James never knew the full extent of his father’s experiences until after the elder Bradley’s death in 1994. The ensemble cast of Flags of Our Fathers includes Ryan Phillippe (Crash), Jesse Bradford (Happy Endings), Adam Beach (Windtalkers), Paul Walker (Into the Blue), Jamie Bell (Billy Elliot), Barry Pepper (Saving Private Ryan) and John Benjamin Hickey (Flightplan). Clint Eastwood directed Flags of Our Fathers from a screenplay adapted by William Broyles, Jr. (Cast Away) and Oscar winner Paul Haggis (Million Dollar Baby, Crash).

Review

Clint Eastwood tells the story of the six men who raised the flag on Iwo Jima in February of 1945, a turning point of World War II. The film centers on the three surviving flag raisers: Rene Gagnon (Jesse Bradford), John Bradley (Ryan Phillippe), and Ira Hayes (Adam Beach).

These men were canonized as true heroes on their return to the States, all because of a famous, iconic photograph. The guiding principal concept of the screenplay by William Broyles (Apollo 13, Jarhead) and Paul Haggis (Crash, Million Dollar Baby) seems to be the disconnect between the image of heroism and the reality of the moment (wartime or otherwise). Eastwood’s cinema paradoxically reinvents the same situation by positing the "real" depiction of war events leading up to and after the photograph was taken. Combat footage is frank, brutal and relentless, signaling the state of the art of the war film.

The return to the States is the pivotal theme at the heart of the screenplay. One soldier, Ira, being Native American, is singled out to illustrate the embedded racism of the era, probably supplied by Haggis, reminiscent of the hit-you-over-the head literalism of Crash. The script lets loose with a kind of skewed Capraesque like narrative viewed through a contemporary filter of cynicism.

As the flashbacks continue, the film descends into darker realms of the human spirit, providing a resonance lacking in the first half. The inner conflicts experienced by Ira identify him as a man at odds with his fellow countrymen and his own sense of self. In war, the mettle of a soldier is tested and forged. In peacetime, away from the battlefront, the forces of disassociation set upon man’s frail spirit, conjuring imaginary demons.

Eastwood and company successfully manage to convey these complexities throughout the second half of Flags of Our Fathers.

-- Max Brinck

Product Format Information

DVD Widescreen: $17.99

Availability: Usually ships in
5-10 days
Close Caption: Yes
Region Code: 1
UPC: 097361178240
Catalog #: DL2415952

Studio : DreamWorks SKG, Paramount

Languages: English Dolby Digital 5.1 (Primary) , French Dolby Digital Surround , English Subtitles , Spanish Subtitles
Aspect Ratio: Anamorphic Widescreen

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DVD Widescreen: $31.49 (2-disc Special Collector's Edition)

Availability: Usually ships in
5-10 days
Close Caption: No
Region Code: 1
UPC: 097361235141
Catalog #: DL2415955

Studio : DreamWorks SKG, Paramount

Languages: English Dolby Digital 5.1 , English Dolby Digital 2.0 , French Dolby Digital 5.1 , English Subtitles , French Subtitles , Spanish Subtitles
Aspect Ratio: Widescreen
Extras: Trailers
Features:
An Introduction by Clint Eastwood
Featurette: "Words on the Page," "Six Brave Men," "The Making of an Epic," "Raising the Flag," "Visual Effects," and "Looking into the Past"

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Blu-ray : $35.99

Availability: Usually ships in
5-10 days
Close Caption: No
Region Code: 1
UPC: 097361235202
Catalog #: DB2415953

Studio : DreamWorks SKG, Paramount

Languages: English Dolby Digital 5.1 (Primary) , French Dolby Digital 5.1 , English Subtitles , French Subtitles , Spanish Subtitles
Features:
An Introduction by Clint Eastwood
Featurette: "Words on the Page," "Six Brave Men," "The Making of an Epic," "Raising the Flag," "Visual Effects," and "Looking into the Past"