Cinematic Aspects of Flags of Our Fathers (2006)

The cinematic Aspects of Flags of Our Fathers (2006) include many factors regarding technology, setting, tone and dark lighting, a look as though it was set in the early days. The camera effects are very dramatic in the way that it moves in the scenes, and the way the angles are created sometimes, like the ratio of the screen. Like most movies these days, it looked like a widescreen ratio, as referenced in the “Film Experience” book. This screen concept was also used back in the day, too. The film had that old, warn, outdated look, too, and even though in 2006 movie producers had with them advanced technology that couldn’t compare to what movie producers from the 1940s possessed, they still did their best to imitate that old, darker lit look of its past time, considering the setting they were trying to imitate. The lighting is dimmed and the mens’ fashion is 40s-like: long coats, slicked-back hairstyles and stern, Patriotic attitudes.

The book uses several different words to discuss how our responses relate to how we interact when we view a film, and one of these factors are identification. I think men who are Patriotic, older, more Conservative and have been involved or touched by the war will relate more to the movie than others who are the opposite would. Men who have struggled with alcoholism, guilt and depression due to traumatic war experiences are the ones who would see themselves in those particular characters, and thus they can identify with them, Steven Spielberg in particular, as he had family who served in the marines anyway, so he easily identifies with what he has crafted in this movie. He doesn’t have to pretend because he has loved ones who have already lived it, and he takes their experiences and molds it into a movie. It isn’t fake, but real, rather.

My personal experiences have not particularly shaped my opinion of the movie, but just my general interest in World War II in the first place. I enjoy learning about the history of that war, and the very talented men behind the movie (Clint Eastwood and Steven Spielberg) does it justice. Clint Eastwood pulled off the depressed, post-trauma experienced war veteran role effectively, as it evokes emotions from those who have felt what he has felt, but only a select few good actors can play the part and make it look and feel real; Clint Eastwood did just that.

The book refers to cognition, and when going back to the raising of the American flag on Iwo Jima, a feeling of great American pride will purge from those who were raised in a Patriotic family, or remind those who maybe had family who fought in the war of their lost loved one. These are some ways people can indirectly relate to film, particularly Flags of Our Fathers (2006), when watching, or experiencing the film. The movie takes a person inside the daily life and emotions of a soldier, the real victims of war and tragedy. During viewing of the film, one will see just how difficult and heart breaking it is to be apart of the Army experience. That is my take on cinematic aspects of the movie, and some references relating to the film, from the book.