8) Flags Of Our Fathers
Another patriotic Eastwood joint, Flags of our Fathers is just as filled with respect for veterans as American Sniper, only this time Clint ups the hero count, and packs his movie to the brim with chiseled killing machines.
Flags of our Fathers tells the story of the Battle of Iwo Jima (from a US perspective; to look at it from the other side, see Eastwood’s own superior Letters From Iwo Jima), and the men seen raising the flag in Joe Rosenthal’s iconic photograph.
As with American Sniper, Eastwood can’t see US troops as anything other than brave warriors defending the realm. What makes the film interesting though is how it contrasts the reality of WWII with the image the propaganda-fed public have back home.
In Flags of our Fathers, the returned victors of Iwo Jima wear brave faces as they promote the war effort on behalf of their government; in reality, they’re for various reasons doomed to misery as soon as they set foot back on US soil.