As America flinches at the cost of war, three "heroes" from the Pacific are sent home and feted by thousands. Even after surviving the hell of a frontal assault on fortified Japanese positions, the shell-shocked trio are bewildered by the media manipulation.
Medic "Doc" Bradley (Ryan Phillippe) keeps quiet, Rene Gagnon (Jesse Bradford) smiles and imagines the post-war parties, while Native-American marine Ira Hayes (Adam Beach) descends into alcoholism: "I can't take them calling me a hero," he says. "All I did was try not to get shot."
Clint Eastwood nearly lost out on directing his most ambitious project to date. He bid for the rights to the bestselling story (written by the son of "Doc" Bradley) only to find that they'd been snapped up by Steven Spielberg. In the end it worked out nicely, with Clint directing and Spielberg producing. This is a fine film about the horror of war and the tragic need for heroes.
Preview courtesy of Sky
Did you know? The film's companion piece is Letters From Iwo Jima, shot back-to-back by Eastwood and also released in 2006. This looks at the battle for the Pacific from the Japanese angle.
(2006) (USA) 
(4 Star)
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