Drama / War
1949 / 100 minutes
RATING: 7/10

John Wayne stars in this loosely accurate recounting of the lead-up to, and battle for, Iwo Jima during World War II. The battle might be best captured in popular memory by Joe Rosenthal’s Pulitzer Prize photograph of US Marines raising a large American flag on Iwo Jima after they’d won a particularly brutal battle against the entrenched Japanese forces. While this is a fictionalized account of the fight, at least a couple of the Marines who raised the actual flag are included in this Hollywood retelling.

Wayne plays Marine Sgt. John Stryker, and because it’s Wayne you know Stryker is going to be a hard-nosed leader of his men. But as unpopular as his drill sergeant routine makes him, Stryker knows what his men are going to face in combat, so he wants to get them as tough as they can be so they have the very best chance of making it back alive. And when the shells start exploding, his men start to understand why he was so tough on them.

Cautions

This isn’t a film where the main character is set up as a hero. This was purposely a film about flawed men who still managed to band together to do what needed to be done. So Stryker has an ex-wife and drinks too much. Another squad member made a thoughtless decision that got two friends killed. And a third soldier who felt overshadowed by his general father doesn’t want to be anything like him. But it was troubled and imperfect men like these that also fought together and often died together to win this war.

Conclusion

While the violence isn’t all that much for a war film, this isn’t one for the kids, because the heroes are too flawed. Our kids will learn from their regular Bible reading that God makes heroes out of men with feet of clay, and the Bible will teach them too, that just one Man was perfect, so is it all that big a deal to expose them to less than ideal heroes in a story? I’d say it all depends on a kid’s age. Not everything is for everyone. We don’t even read all of the Bible to our kids (for example, skipping over the rape of Dinah, in Genesis 34, when they are young).

But for adults, there’s nothing that would shock us, and lots to appreciate. We can see these men’s flaws, recognize our own, and then ask if we could respond as courageously, or not, when battle called. So if you’re one to appreciate a good black and white film, this is one of ’em for sure, with John Wayne playing a drill sergeant exactly as you’d expect.

Check out the trailer below.