The picture captured, in silhouette, six soldiers struggling to hoist, on top of Mount Suribachi, an American flag they had tied onto a flagpole improvised out of a water pipe.

Rosenthal died on August 21 last year, aged 94. His photograph became an American icon that helped raise $26 billion for the war effort; inspired a postage stamp that sold millions; sparked a total of five films starting with the 1950 John Wayne-starrer Sands of Iwo Jima and including the two reviewed here; and become immortalized in the 78-foot statue in Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, DC.

That battle and that photograph is the peg on which Clint Eastwood hangs his superlative diptych, Flags of our Fathers (released in the US October 20, 2006) and Letters from Iwo Jima (limited release December 20, before going wide January 12).

The concept of looking at one landmark event from two diametrically opposed perspectives is interesting and, in Eastwood's assured hands, the execution is nearly flawless.

One of these days, I hope someone will sit with the actor-director and get him to talk of how, at age 75-plus, he manages the creative fire and physical and mental energy to make two such films back to back.

Column: Bolly Woods | Photograph: Getty Images

Also read: International cinema, 2006

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