The Iwo Jima Memorial (or it's official name - The US Marine Corps War Memorial), is one of the most impressive war memorials in the Washington DC area. The memorial itself is based on a famous photograph, of US soldiers raising the US flag on top of Mount Suribachi, in the island of Iwo Jima, during World War 2. This movie, directed by Clint Eastwood and produced by Steven Spielberg, recounts the raising of the flag, but instead of focusing on the war itself (like Saving Private Ryan for example), it talks about the how the photograph was used as a publicity machine to generate support (and money) for the war.
It is amazing how lies are created, and the men are almost forced to parade these lies. It is an anti war movie like none before ... and challenges the very notion of heroism and hero worship. In the times of Jacob Zuma, Robert Mugabe and Iraq, the movie raises some very relevant questions for right now.
