What's Next On My List? Flags of Our Fathers

Well, I am slowly running out of movies to watch in memory of Paul Walker, but honestly, I’m really just running out when it comes to the blog itself. I don't think I should rewrite these movie reviews over and over again, but definitely, as I'm coming to the end of the films, I can restart watching them from the beginning, which is something I often do with the Fast and Furious franchise anyway. They just make me happy. The action never gets boring, the stunts, the ideas, and I don't know, of all the things, I just always feel like Fast and Furious has never lied about what it wants to be. Feel-good action with fantastic stunts, specifically car stunts. So I understand that it's silly when they put the car into ninth gear, but nonetheless, it's entertaining for me. So, yes, we might slowly come to an end, and it's been a lot of years now since Walker passed away, but every time I see him, there is just this warm, fuzzy feeling in my heart. And I don't think I will ever forget this actor. You know, it's silly. I do think that the potential that he had, or the films that he still could have acted in, really add to this. And I follow his daughter. I look at the projects. I look at his siblings if they ever come in, and how they have taken on the projects that he started in life, the humanitarian ones, the animal-saving ones, the African humanitarian projects. And it warms my heart that his name is never really forgotten, at least in these communities. And I understand that most of his films were very similar, with some kind of mobsters or gangsters, or police-themed, but some of these were very unique, and I still am very saddened every time when I think about what we could have still seen from him had he had the chance to live a longer life. So, for this year, I watched the Flags of Our Fathers, which had been on my list for quite a long time, so let's get into it.

Flags of Our Fathers (2006)

This film, directed by Clint Eastwood, features Paul Walker as one of the soldiers who was on Iwo Jima and was responsible for the US flag being planted at the top of the mountain, which has become one of the most iconic and famous shots of the Second World War, and the story behind those soldiers is the one that the movie focuses on. In order to make sure that the war had enough money, the soldiers had to get people to invest in and buy war bonds, so those soldiers who were part of the team that put up the flag were sent on a tour in America to get investors. The pressures of that, the pressures of war, the PTSD, all of that is combined very well in this film.

Paul Walker played Hank Hansen, one of the soldiers who was lost on the island of Iwo Jima, but he was in all of the flashbacks, he was in all of the fight scenes, and honestly, it really made me sad that he wasn't one of the lead characters, because he's a fantastic, terrific actor, as we have discussed. Obviously, the scenes on the island were more about the camera angles and the ability to recreate war for what it was. We have seen so many examples of this. Every time there’s a war movie, most directors are applauded for their ability to be as realistic as possible, to reimagine a war, to show us the horrors of war, and this was no exception, of course. And in that sense, it was also incredibly heavy, of course, at times. The fighting was intense, and a lot of these big directors, I think, take pride in really making the audience feel like they are there. And that's also one of the reasons why war is so terrible. Obviously, thankfully, let's say, most of us are grateful to have never experienced war firsthand, but based on the accounts, you are also just lucky if you can get away from it and survive. So, in this sentiment, I think these films make a really good argument and really help people to not want to interact with or be part of another war. Yet it happens all over the world. I don't have to tell you what 2026 has brought, especially what the United States has done, and how it still aids war criminals responsible for the death of thousands. And we can blame the Middle East left and right if we want to, but most countries have a religious doctrine that stops them from fighting, and there are just disgusting, middle-aged, actually more than middle-aged, pensioner white men out there who will do anything to avoid going to prison for war crimes and that is why the world finds itself in the conflicts that you read about everyday. And I watch a movie like this and it really makes me wonder how could anybody ever think that anyone on the face of the planet would want to bring their country into a war, and it is only the people who are trying to flee the consequences of their own actions. And it's disgusting.

Now that I've written out the contemporary political segment, coming back to the film, because it made me think about how I have a fascination with war movies from America, especially the ones covering the Vietnam War. I think they are incredible and terrifying, and they are much harder to watch because it wasn't a World War I situation where the US came in to really help to defeat what was already a big conflict in Europe, and it wasn't a World War II situation where the US was baited into participating and how their conflict with the Japanese led to plenty of proxy wars, among them the Vietnam War. The Vietnam War really feels different, and it was always interesting for me to see historically how citizens of the United States had tried to flee from the war, how they tried to get away from it. And it really reminded me of this film, where our main characters hate being called heroes, hate being the center of attention. They understand their job, and they are doing it because of their fallen friends and family and brothers in arms, but overall there is an absolute disgust for how people are trying to make this war into something so beautiful instead of horrific and what it was. Something that brought the death of far too many people. And the Vietnam War was also a war that many did not believe in anymore and did not want to participate in. And it just really broke my heart how some of these films tackled this issue, how they deal with the difficulties of it, and how they really show what the soldiers went through. Soldiers who, by the way, really did not have a say in how their governments and how their leaders decided to act on these wars and how they decided to put them into the trenches.

A companion movie to this one is Letters from Iwo Jima (2006), which had plenty of award nominations. And I do think that it is a good idea to watch that just to see how we so easily villainize the other side. And I really liked in this film that it wasn't about hatred towards the Japanese. It wasn't about making it so that people villainize yet another culture, another country, another nationality. It was better spoken of who exactly they were fighting against. It was just shown how the fight went. I think it really helped to make sure that the humanity is not lost, because on the other side, you also had fighters and soldiers who believed they were doing the right thing and who believed that they were fighting for their countries. I think we often forget how much these poor soldiers are at the mercy, again, of the people who are in charge. And overall, I was very moved by the performances. I think Jesse Bradford was a fantastic choice. I really like Ryan Phillippe, and I do think that this was a fantastic character even for Adam Beach. And I don't know if I have seen many movies that didn't highlight how the enemy is to be hated, but this was a great example of just showing us the horrors of war without villainizing anyone, not even your commanding officers, just perhaps the press and the pressure that was put on our soldiers, but that can very clearly today be diagnosed as PTSD. And it broke my heart that they were always exposed to fireworks and all kinds of things that we think of as celebratory, where at the same time, it's such a strong reminder of war for many that it just blows my mind how we have evolved in cultures when it comes to these things. 

I really like the interactions, the stories. I've read up on a couple of trivia points from the film. It's very well made, great acting, heartbreaking at times, but fascinating. Some of the things were switched out.  But who exactly was it that put up the flag? What it meant exactly? How people reacted in the U.S. and so on. I do recommend that you check out the trivia section as well on IMDb if you were to watch this film. But I wholeheartedly recommend it.

When it comes to Paul Walker movies, there are better ones out there, in the sense that he is not the main character here, he has very few scenes. He is mentioned a lot because his family believes that he was one of the men who had raised the flag, but other than that, he is mostly in the flashbacks, and even then, during the fight scenes, he is not truly visible. But if you are looking for historical movies, if you do like war movies, then I do recommend it. I think it's executed very well, and it was very heartbreaking, with a fantastic cast. Stay tuned, I do believe that I still have a couple of films left for us to remember Mr. Walker on his birthday. Other than that, thank you for reading, and stay tuned for more posts.