Clint Eastwood has fashioned a practically perfect film adaptation of James Bradley's and Ron Powers's best-selling book, "Flags of Our Fathers." Echoing the best epic moments from "The Longest Day," "Saving Private Ryan," and "Apocalypse Now," Eastwood avoids the flaws of those previous war films in his superb retelling of the story of "Doc" Bradley and two other soldiers who raised the American flag on Iwo Jima. Photographer Joe Rosenthal caught the soldiers' images in an iconic still that captured a perfect moment and reinvigorated the U.S. war effort against the Japanese. Like "The Right Stuff," Eastwood also raises the question of what is a hero and why even heroes that have been manufactured by bureaucrats and the media can serve an important function. Although the film makes clear that at least two of the trio performed heroically under fire, the three young men all felt that the true heroes of Iwo Jima lay dead on the beaches of that desolate Pacific island. However, the military machinery was in desperate need of a ploy to sell war bonds and plucked the men from battle. With the willing aid of the mass media and staged events that often bordered on tacky, the handlers turned the three into war heroes for a hero-starved public.<br /><br />From Tom Stern's nearly black-and-white cinematography to Clint Eastwood's spare score, there is hardly a false note. Ryan Phillippe, who was previously best known to this viewer as the boy-toy of "Gosford Park," acquits himself admirably in the role of "Doc" Bradley, although the acting honors arguably go to Adam Beach as Ira Hayes, the American Indian who wrestles with guilt and alcoholism after his unwilling rise from obscurity to national hero.<br /><br />Eastwood has included dozens of period photographs of Iwo Jima and the soldiers who fought there beside the closing credits. Despite a running time of 132 minutes, never in recent memory have so many audience members stayed glued to their seats until the final image faded. While viewers were likely entranced by shots of the real people that had been portrayed in the film, they may also have stayed in the dark until the tears had dried on their cheeks and they could stand and walk silently from the theater. Rarely does the term "instant classic" apply, but Eastwood has surpassed his work on "Unforgiven," "Mystic River," and "Million Dollar Baby," and he has created a film that is nearly certain to endure and stand the test of time.