For the WWII movies I watched "Flags of our Fathers" with Michaela. I thought that the movie was done really well. It was about the picture of the flag raising by the Marines at Iwo Jima. Many people don't know that the famous picture wasn't of the first flag raising, it was of the replacment flag. When the picture made it back to the US many people though that it meant the battle had been won finally, but it didn't the battle still went on for like 35 more days I think they said.
It's pretty obvious why this picture would bring hope to the hopeless Americans, but this story has a dark side that I didn't know about until this movie. There's six men in this picture and when the picture made it back to the US only three were alive. The last three went back and were basically used as models to get people to buy war bonds to help support them. They were called heros, which they didn't like because all they were known for was raising a flag one of the men never even used his weapon because he was a runner.
There was 70,000 Marines that went on to Iwo Jima, 6,821 died and 19,217 were wounded. It was just a bloody battle, and watching this movie showed it. One minute you can be standing next to your friend and the next you may not even be able to reconize their body. My dad went to the 50th anniversarry of Iwo Jima and he got a whole helmet full of the sand and he has a big framed pencil drawing of the raising of the flag. I really liked this movie because it was so raw and open. These men were amazing. I'd tell anybody to watch this movie, but go into it knowing a little about it.
Breann Lehr
Comments
That is good advice. I think any WWII would be better enjoyed knowing a little about WWII before watching it.