Thursday, Oct 19, 2006
A fraction of a second…one click of a camera…and a powerful image was captured that engrossed a war-weary nation and fueled its resolve to push for final victory…
The Joe Rosenthal Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph of the flag raising on Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima in World War II has been frozen in time in the United States Marine Corps War Memorial (popularly referred to as the “Iwo Jima Memorial”) and now lives on in a new movie, Flags of Our Fathers, which will be released on Friday, October 20th. The movie was adapted from a book of the same title written by James Bradley, son of one of the six men to raise the second, larger flag on the mountain.
Flags of Our Fathers, a Clint Eastwood film, is being released by Dreamworks Pictures and Warner Brothers Pictures. The motion picture features Ryan Phillippe, Jesse Bradford, and Adam Beach, and was produced by Steven Spielberg.
The filming of Flags of Our Fathers began in August, 2005, with a recreation of the 1954 dedication of the memorial in Arlington, Virginia. Since its dedication in 1954, the memorial has been administered by the National Park Service as part of the George Washington Memorial Parkway. National Park Service staff provided technical assistance and support to the motion picture’s producers.
The memorial’s striking bronze statue is based upon a famous image captured by Associated Press news photographer Joe Rosenthal. This image, which depicts the second flag-raising over the island of Iwo Jima during World War II on February 23, 1945, has come to symbolize many qualities, including patriotism, honor, freedom, integrity, and the “uncommon valor” of the Marine Corps.
In anticipation of increased public interest in the memorial and to enhance the visitor experience, park staff worked with Harpers Ferry Center to create a new brochure for the U.S. Marine Corps War Memorial. In addition, park staff developed a new site bulletin, which highlights the relationship between the Marines and the memorial.
For more information about the movie, visit the Internet Movie Database web page: http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0418689.
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