This movie is the companion to Letters From Iwo Jima. Both are directed by Clint Eastwood and tell the story behind the WWII battle of Iwo Jima from the American and Japanese perspective. I actually thought Letters was the better of the two. If you watch both I would recommend watching them around the same time. I had watched Letters from Iwo Jima a few months earlier and remembered some, but it would be more interesting to see how the two fit together. This movie started out during the battle and skipped around a lot. It would go back to show what happened leading up to something, and then forward to show what happens later. The movie is about the picture of the flag raising at Iwo Jima. It was interesting to learn about and see that the famous picture was actually of a second flag raising after they had to take the first down. This picture brought hope to the people back home and made them feel we were and could win the war. Three of the men in the picture were brought home and made into instant heroes, sent on a publicity tour and pushing the sale of war bonds. It was interesting to see how they felt about it...they weren't heroes, they weren't trying to be, the true heroes were those that died. What was lacking in this movie was character development. There were so many different soldiers along the way, lots of characters. You get to see a lot of the three flag raisers, but really don't learn a whole lot about their backgrounds. I think this would have improved the movie if they tried to get you more connected to the characters. A good war movie, interesting to learn about the real story behind the flag raising.