Flags of Our Fathers

Clint Eastwood directed, co produced and scored the film. Steven Spielberg brought in William Broyles Jr. for the first drafts; Eastwood then called in Paul Haggis to rewrite. Reading about the Japanese side, and Tadamichi Kuribayashi in particular, he decided on a second picture; Letters from Iwo Jima began shooting in March 2006, right after this one wrapped. Though told from the American side, most of it was shot in Iceland, around the Litla-Sandvík and Stóra-Sandvík bays on the Reykjanes peninsula, which stood in for Iwo Jima; the rest in Southern California and Chicago. The Marine Corps later corrected two identifications: in 2016 it found one of the 6 was Harold Schultz, not John Bradley, and in 2019 that Harold Keller stood where Rene Gagnon had been placed. 2 of the 3 men it follows on the bond tour fall inside those corrections. At the 79th Academy Awards it was nominated for sound editing and sound mixing and won neither; the editing award went to the same two men for Letters from Iwo Jima. A good fit if you want to watch a photograph manufacture heroes, and that heroism later corrected down to who was in the frame. Not for anyone who will tire of the cutting between front line and publicity tour; the landing scenes are harsh.