Over the weekend I saw some headlines and articles pointing out problems with the new movie "Flags of Our Fathers" which had opened this past weekend.
If you've been living under a rock and have no idea what Flags... is about, the movie is based on a book by the son of a participant in the events at Iwo Jima, specifically about the flag raising at Iwo Jima that was depicted in an infamous photograph that later was turned into the monument at the Marine Corps memorial showing the same event.
Sadly, it seems that Hollywood, unintentionally, or perhaps intentionally, seems to have missed the participation by African Americans (Blacks) and people of color in the events shown in the film. As I watched the film this weekend, I didn't notice this as a glaring omission, but I did see it that way once I saw some of the headlines and comments about the issue.
Hollywood has, for years, been bad about remembering to include people of color in films depicting famous historical events. Over the last few years, it had seemed that we had gotten better about the issue thanks to protests by people of color, but Flags... seems to have brought some of the old pains back to the surface.
In the case of Flags... the people behind the movie have tried to brush away the controversy noting that the movie is "true" to the book it was based on, and is at least historically accurate in that perspective. That may be true, but as noted in some of the discussion about the current mini-controversy, the book seems to have brushed past the participation of African Americans in the events at Iwo Jima, and may have missed some fairly major participation along the way.
Some of those that are upset about the movie include an African American that was reportedly there during the events depicted in the film. The person claims he was involved in helping to find the pipe that was used to put the flag on. That is NOT portrayed in the film in any way, and in fact the depiction in the film is of another character being involved in selecting the pipe that was used.
Besides that possible omission, there is generally a complete lack of African American presence in the film. It would be hard to remember a single scene where a non-white face (except for Adam Beach, who portrayed a person of Indian descent, one of the major characters in the story) is seen in the film.
I can't say this is by design, or on purpose, but as noted by some of those that are upset at the lack of inclusion of African American participation in the events at Iwo Jima, the lack of even a few extras in the background is a bit upsetting to people of color.
Certainly U.S. history in general is not kind and respectful -- at least not in most depictions that we have come to accept (in the words of the people in the articles that inspired this article here at J.U., probably borrowed from the great parody film: Galaxy Quest) as historical documents -- of non-whites. Our heros in film, on TV, and on the stage are normally not people of color. They're manly men like John Wayne, Burt Lancaster, Michael Douglas, and others. Even when those men are portraying people of different heritages.
Unfortunately discrepancies like those noted by the people upset with Flags... do continue to haunt us, and it tells me we obviously still have a long way to go before what we see on our movie screens and our TV screens is really true to life.
I realize that the product that Hollywood produces and puts out is just that, a product. It's a creation designed to bring in revenue for the creators, actors, producers, writers and others that are involved in the product. I wish though that the people that were creating the product took more pride in their work, and worked harder at being historically accurate so that years from now, when those products are viewed and taken to be images of the actual events they were (perhaps too loosely) based on that we won't have to have reminders stamped all over the place to tell us that what we are seeing is a work of fiction or a portrayal that most likely is not historically accurate.
