Not exactly a war story
My good friend, Mr. Eastwood, has been involved in interesting cinema for about as long as I’ve been a movie goer (let’s not quibble over the minor detail that I no longer go to the movies; the movies come to me). From that ride in the back of JT’s Scout to see one of the sphagetti westerns, through Play Misty For Me (might be the only true scary movie), around the corner past any punk that might want to make my day, and more, and more. As he ages, he also seems to be developing the sort of conscience that permits him to tweak the elephant’s long nose.
The movie from this weekend is the front end of a big double-header: Flags Of Our Fathers. A look at the debacle known as Iwo Jima. Filmed in Iceland, since the Japanese government has not agreed to allow one of their graveyards to become a studio back lot. And, it must be pointed out, not exactly a war story. You see, there are many kinds of wars, and there are many ways to live (or die) in one.
The American people, latecomers to the One and the Two, carried on at home in a fairly regular way. Freed from the tension of exploding bombs and blitzes, John and Jane Doe kept their homes intact, grieved missing family members and bought War Bonds. At least, that was the will of the government. This movie deals with the manipulation of public sentiment to assure funding for the military (a timeless subject, for sure). Just some regular guys, brought back to the mainland under dubious pretenses, out to convince their fellow citizens that another dollar for Uncle Sam would be a dollar well invested.
I’ve already shown my lack of economic history on this subject, by getting myself banned from Wikipedia for a small correctional edit. After all, no way could people fresh out from the Great Depression have harvested several billion dollars on a War Bond drive. Let’s just edit that: billion million. There, that makes cents sense. How wrong was I…
The war was a big business, for big business, and the need for constant injections of blood cash were the earmark. If you’re at all curious about how much energy was used to assure that the little guy kept on giving and giving and giving, then rent this one. I can’t wait to see Part Two.
