In war -- Eastwood offers us a timely reminder -- who is just and unjust depends on where you're watching from. And to further the point, his next movie, Letters From Iwo Jima, tells the story from the perspective of the Japanese.
I got it from this review (Flags of Our Fathers-Print the Legend-Eastwood strips away myths surrounding Greatest Generation). I'm skeptical of this project and think a lot of the pitch about it is a lie.
I am not old enough to have seen this photo's effect on the war, morale, and everything else firsthand. But I have seen the original contact print of the image (made on the ship, before Joe Rosenthal had even seen it, someone else developed the roll, had the image passed by the censor, and mailed it home) About 2" square. I've also seen a print Joe Rosenthal made large enough to fill a wall.
It is a powerful image. But it does not say "mission accomplished, the war is over". It does not say "these 6 guys were the only ones who fought the battle". It does not say "this image isn't real because this is not the first flag". These are the criticisms from the left and in the ad campaign.
It shows American troops pulling together. It shows our flag, our standard, rising. It is a sign of victory. Victory that comes with a price, a toll taken on our soldiers (those who died AND those who survived). It was not a staged image (Joe erred when he said "yes" in an early interview, he was referring to a separate image of the men posing in front of the flag).
I could handle a film about Iwo Jima, I don't like the PR that this photo was false, that the men were exploited, and that pro-America propaganda is bad.
We are told that the photo doesn't tell the real story. Compare the photos leaked from Abu Ghraib with the photo of the men who as political prisoners under Saddam had their hands amputated at Abu Ghraib but under American liberation, had prosthetics attached, and they shook hands with President Bush. Torture means something. Something the "blame America first" media tries to distort.
If the Japanese were justified, then WWII was a lie. I do not accept that premise. History is written by the victors and there are countless documented attrocites committed by the Japanese (medical experiments that rivaled the Nazis, enslaved Korean comfort women who were repeatedly raped, tortured POW...).
Our media today attempts to enforce on our minds symbols of the nadir of military performance while in WWII the media attempted to enforce on our minds symbols of the apex of military performance.
I saw Richard Roeper's review of the movie over the weekend (Ebert was out sick - I forget who was subbing). Roeper liked it because it showed how we were all deceived by the military/media in WWII or words to that effect.