above sentence is the narration at the beginning of the film. After the smoke of World War II dissipated 60 years ago, those veterans have come to the end of their lives. The memory of that war comes from too many creations and renderings, but in their hearts, they have the most real memory of that war, what happened on the purgatory-like Iwo Jima, and that side is remembered by all Americans Who planted the Star-Spangled Banner? Those former heroes have been forgotten, but the stories behind the heroes are revealed to us before they are obliterated by the dust of history. This is Eastwood's "The Banner of the Fathers".
"The Banner of the Fathers" is the sister of "Iwo Jima's Letter to the Family". After reading "Iwo Jima's Letter to the Family", you can understand the cruelty of the war. After reading some related materials, it seems that the real battlefield is more tragic than the film describes. The casualty rate of the US military is as high as 70%, and the small Iwo Jima is like a purgatory on earth in the Pacific battlefield. In that war, a few soldiers planted the Stars and Stripes on the top of the mountain, but unfortunately the camera of that photo was soaked by the sea water. Later, because the leader of the army was not satisfied that the flag erected by his army would become a collection of politicians, so A few soldiers were asked to go up and change the flag, and the image of that scene was frozen in the film. The photo won the Pulitzer Prize, became the material for stamps, posters, countless magazines and news headlines, became the best propaganda material for the heroic American soldiers in that war, and the three surviving soldiers became the The hero admired by the whole people has doubled the task of raising $14 billion by President Truman in 2 months, but who understands the true thoughts of the heroes?
The film is based on the war novel "Flag of Fathers: Heroes of the Battle of Iwo Jima" by James Bradley, whose father is John Bradley - the medic among the six American soldiers pictured Bing, also one of the three survivors. The film follows three clues, the author interviewing veterans, the brutal battlefield of Iwo Jima, and the experience of three soldiers being revered as heroes.
The three fighters who survived the hail of bombs on Iwo Jima were John Bradley, Ira Hays, Rene Gagnanon, and they were treated like heroes at home as the fighters who were present in the pictures, with journalists stalking them everywhere, businessmen hoping Get to know them, the girls fall in love with them, stay away from the cruel battlefield, and the three heroes are very uncomfortable in the applause and salute, they know in their hearts where their hero's title comes from and what that flag means , who deserves the title of a real hero...
Bradley is a medic, the call of the Doc (Doctor) or Corpsman (Medical Soldier) rising everywhere on the battlefield of gunpowder, he keeps running among the wounded, watching As people kept dying, and he himself nearly died on Iwo Jima due to excessive blood loss, Ira told the officer that it was a hero who saved people, but how can a flag be a hero, I think the comrades also recognized Bradley's hero title Yes, but Bradley never agreed. Although he also obeyed the wishes of politicians and became a tool to promote war bonds, he never considered himself a hero in his heart, and he didn't even mention his son. All he had in mind was That lovely little brother Iggy, the joy of swimming in the smoke of the battlefield, those unforgettable brotherhood, the so-called heroes, on the battlefield, what they want to do is only to help those who can help, there is no American people , without the glorious tradition of the Marine Corps, nor the grand cause of liberation of all mankind, I think Bradley is a hero or not, he is a person worthy of our respect.
Gagnanon is just a signal trooper, he didn't even fire a shot in the war, he just became a hero because he appeared in the photos. In those days when he returned to China to promote, he was also the happiest, in various occasions The person who performed the best, his marriage has attracted a lot of media coverage, but as he said, those who died are the real heroes, Gagnanon does not agree with this title in his heart, just compares Ira's discomfort, he is more adaptable, but when everyone's enthusiasm for the heroes of World War II passed, Gagnanon only ended up as a poor gatekeeper, who is a hero and what is a hero, in fact, a hero is just created in our hearts. , but when we stop caring about heroes, what are they?
Ira is an Indian soldier and the character who is the most unsuitable for the hero's life in the film. He has a strong sense of justice. He resents this unreal title and uses alcohol to numb himself. When he is noticed by everyone, he is always there. Not to those who died in the war, until finally giving up the hero's journey and returning to the battlefield. His conversation with his superiors before returning home was particularly meaningful.
Ira: "Raising money is a good thing, we need money too. But I can't stand being called a hero, my record is dodging bullets. There's nothing to be proud of in what I've seen and heard. And a true hero It should be Mike, he is. He's the best Marine I've ever seen. Have you met Mike?"
Chief: "No. But if he's sitting here, I think he'd say those things too. Because , he doesn't want to be a hero either."
Ira: "Perhaps. But, he is a good man. However, he must be ashamed of me when he sees me like this..."
Chief Ira is one of the characters I admire most in the film, His Indian identity made his situation different from that of his white comrades in arms. After the war, Ira was farming in the fields. A white family drove a station wagon to find him and took a photo, then rewarded him with two coins and turned away. The father He also said: Hey, he's a hero! , a very sad scene, what is the hero, the giant panda in the zoo, maybe in the eyes of most people, that's it.
And then there's his speech in the auditorium. He said to the Indian brothers in the audience: This war has made the American people know us better and accepted us. Thinking back to Ira even on the war bond tour, the politicians didn't want to make fun of his racial identity, some learned some grotesque self-confessed Indian words, some asked him if he was hitting the Japanese with an Indian axe , and the restaurant that refused to serve him because of his racial identity, leaving his comrades who died together and returning home to his Indian identity didn't change his situation much.
If we want to see the war scenes, "The Banner of the Fathers" is not very exciting, but it allows us to see the incomparably real side behind those heroes. The image of such a stalwart on the US Marine Corps Monument is actually such a real existence. The soldier of the banner is not a hero who is not afraid of death, but being able to uncover the true story behind the hero also makes me have more respect for the author of the original book and the director of the film, which is probably not possible in a theme like the Celestial Dynasty. We only see one high-level image after another, but we don’t know that the commonplace of the hero has the same touching power.
Which side of the father's flag is, the star-spangled flag that flutters high, obviously it should be the honest and upright heart of the father's generation.
2010.05.12 Morning Zhengzhou University Dormitory
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