war...

... Is a truly disturbing event.

the movie Flags of Our Fathers brought this into clear perspective all of a sudden. I don't think I could ever survive like that. And much as I wish that this is just a movie about a war in the past, the reality is that there are wars going on now. Just that in Singapore we are coocooned from all these harsh realities of life.

Flags of Our Fathers is not just a war movie, even though the movie is about a battle between the US marines and the Japanese Army during WWII. The movie centers around the iconic photo of the 5 marines and 1 navy corpsman raising the US flag on the hill of the island Iwo Jima. This photo became a symbol of victory for many Americans. The 6 men in the picture became national heroes, only 3 survived the battle.

heroes. What are they? And how do they get to become heroes?

people say seeing is believing. So photographs are often held up as evidence in court... But what is real? That photograph of the flag raising was actually the 2nd time they had raised the US flag. The 1st flag was raised by a different group of soldiers and was subsequently lowered cos of orders from one of the majors. The original photograph had evidence of the 1st flag being lowered in the corner, but of cos that side of the picture was conveniently cropped out.

too many things to think about in this movie....