Synopsis

During World War II, three servicemen are brought home after appearing in the famous photograph of the flag raising on Iwo Jima. Used as symbols in a nationwide war-bond campaign, they struggle with the pressure of public hero worship while remembering the brutal battle and the comrades who did not return. Years later, the meaning of the photograph remains complicated by questions of identity, memory, and truth.

Factoids & Trivia

• The film is based on James Bradley and Ron Powers' 2000 book, Flags of Our Fathers: Heroes of Iwo Jima.

• The famous photograph shows the second flag raising on Mount Suribachi. A smaller American flag had been raised earlier that same day.

• The surviving men identified with the photograph were brought back to the United States for the Seventh War Bond Tour, turning the image into a major propaganda and fundraising tool.

• The film presents the battle and the bond tour in parallel, emphasizing the contrast between the violence of Iwo Jima and the carefully managed public image created afterward.

• Historical research later determined that Navy corpsman John Bradley had been mistakenly identified as one of the men in the photograph. The film reflects the identification accepted at the time of its production.

• Clint Eastwood followed the film with Letters from Iwo Jima, a companion film portraying the battle largely from the Japanese perspective. Both films were developed as connected projects.

• Production used locations in Iceland, Texas, and Chicago, as well as footage shot on Iwo Jima. The Chicago filming included scenes for the war-bond rally.

• The film was released in the United States on October 20, 2006.