Flags Of Our Fathers Film Analysis

Flags of Our Fathers, directed by Clint Eastwood, is a film that is successful in portraying both a Native American and white soldiers as humans. Not only was Ira Hayes, a Pima Native American, one of the main characters, he was also a character with as much depth and humanity as his white counterparts. Although there are several moments of racial dialogues towards Ira from his superiors, it seems as though director Clint Eastwood is pointing to these scenes as flawed instead of simply leaving them as they are. Despite the heavy racist comments sprinkled throughout the film, the portrayal of Native Americans is progressive through the fact that they are depicted as humans, as they should have been before in films.
One of the main reasons it seems as though Eastwood chose to include scenes with racist comments is because …show more content…
Ira is given just as much, if not more, time to develop his character in a realistic way. All of the soldiers are forever changed by the war, and they are brought together because of the horrors that they have faced in battle despite their ethnic backgrounds. It is the citizens of America upon the soldiers’ return who perpetuate racialized stereotypes against Ira, even when they view him as a hero, despite the fact that a few of Ira’s fellow soldiers treated him the same way before they fought together. Ebert also explains how Ira is someone “who America wanted to be a hero, but not an American.” Even though each of the soldiers who returned treat Ira with respect, the American people in general cannot bring themselves to do so despite the fact that has gone through the same things as his fellow