A film about how people are used up and spat out by the war machine. Based on the true story of a propaganda photograph of five soldiers raising the US flag atop Mount Suribachi, Iwo Jima; a bloody and frightening battleground for both sides as Eastwood’s other film “Letters from Iwo Jima” illustrates. We see how our “heroes” are paraded in front of the public, much to their discomfort, to raise money for the war mongerers and when their use is over, they are left to fend for themselves in situations of poverty, trauma and racism.

Has many pertinent things to say about war, the state, and the breath-taking cynicism of those who make the decisions about who will live and who will die for peace.