Christspeak, Rx

Sacrifice is a term used alot in war. It is an appropriate word, but I think most of us forget what it really means. The film Flags Of Our Fathers is a painful reminder of the courage and tragedy involved with wartime sacrifices.

In Saving Private Ryan and We Were Soldiers we watched examples of sacrifice that made us proud of the men who fought for us. This is where Flags of Our Fathers falls short. It is shame because Iowa Jima was the greatest and costliest battle in Marine Corps history. It produced the most famous wartime picture of all time. Last, but not least, the bond tour was a huge success at a time our country needed it the most.

The film focuses on three soldiers and events surrounding the famous picture of the Marines raising the flag on a volcanic hill in Iwo Jima. There's little question the film is historically correct, but the author, in this case Director Clint Eastwood, chose to dwell soley on the tragedy of the soldiers' sacrifice rather than the consequences of their sacrifices and the honor it brought the country.

Also, we were introduced to great characters in the beginning, but the battle scenes were so confusing I never understood what happened to those men.

The result is an intense, well told, bummer of a story.

Historical perspectives:

• Iwo Jima was the first battle on Japense soil (spiritually sacred ground to the Japenese).
• The U.S. was broke and desperately needed money to fund the war. The past two war bond drives had fallen far short. The tour of the "heroes of Iwo Jima" raised over $22 billion in 2 months.
• The 3 soldiers who were hailed as heroes had not done anything remarkably brave that would set them apart from their fellow Marines at Iwo Jima, they just happened to be part of raising the flag.
• The famous flag raising was actually the second flag raising- and the picture really was something of a fluke. Most all of the photographer's (Rosenthall) film was wasted that day.
• All 3 men were embarrassed to be considered heroes for good reason, they were hailed as such in order to be used to raise desparately needed funds.
• The Marines ceased to treat the 3 men as soldiers while they toured for funds- and in doing so- failed them miserably.
• While the 3 men were understably uncomfortable with their mission, the mission was every bit as important as what was taking place in Japan. If they'd been treated like Marines during their tour, the tragedy of their sacrifice would most likely have been averted.