Miscellaneous Movie Musings

innerSpaceman · 02-22-2008, 08:38 AM

For the record (and not to be disagreeable with the esteemed Mr. Cricket or anything), I found Fags of Our Fathers completely comprehensible, and I LOVED the non-linear storytelling (as I tend to in all films that employ it to good effect, which I believe this one did).

It's inevitable, but a shame, that it must be compared with its "companion" piece, Letters From Iwo Jima ... but I found the Flags themes of propaganda and the nature of heroism, the oddities of created reality and the consequences of inner moral conflict far more compelling than the rather straightforward war drama of Letters.

They were both excellent films. Letters was an intense battle pic, infused with sadness and grief for a "side" we'd been taught to view as "enemy." Flags, on the other hand, played with time and space and reality in a surprisingly interesting way (imo). As I said when the pics first came out, Flags ultimately fell a bit short of far loftier cinematic goals than those of Letters ... but I give it higher marks for the braver effort.

And Ryan Phillipe comes off pretty well in it ... a rare achievement in itself.

02-22-2008, 08:38 AM	#11
innerSpaceman Kink of Swank Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Inner Space Posts: 13,075	For the record (and not to be disagreeable with the esteemed Mr. Cricket or anything), I found Fags of Our Fathers completely comprehensible, and I LOVED the non-linear storytelling (as I tend to in all films that employ it to good effect, which I believe this one did). It's inevitable, but a shame, that it must be compared with its "companion" piece, Letters From Iwo Jima ... but I found the Flags themes of propaganda and the nature of heroism, the oddities of created reality and the consequences of inner moral conflict far more compelling than the rather straightforward war drama of Letters. They were both excellent films. Letters was an intense battle pic, infused with sadness and grief for a "side" we'd been taught to view as "enemy." Flags, on the other hand, played with time and space and reality in a surprisingly interesting way (imo). As I said when the pics first came out, Flags ultimately fell a bit short of far loftier cinematic goals than those of Letters ... but I give it higher marks for the braver effort. And Ryan Phillipe comes off pretty well in it ... a rare achievement in itself.
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