History YMMV / FlagsOfOurFathers

* HarsherInHindsight: The revelation that neither Gagnon nor Bradley were ever really in the famous photograph at all ''really'' adds a lot of subtext to the themes of the movie about how the flag raisers were exploited. On the more positive side of things, you can also argue there's a more hopeful message in there about how it was what they represented that really mattered.
* HilariousInHindsight: Your viewing experience really will be undermined had you watched Season 5 of ''Series/TheWire'' before this film as you recognize the guy interviewing the veterans.
* {{Irony}}: the film focuses on the struggle to correctly identify the men who raised the second flag and appeared in the famous photograph. After the film's release, it was revealed through further research that 'Doc' Bradley also was not one of the flag raisers, even though he is one of the main characters of the film and presented as such. Additionally, Bradley's own son was the author of the non-fiction book that the film is based on.

* CriticalResearchFailure: Not an egregious case, but after the film was released, it was discovered that "Doc" Bradley (the father of the man who wrote the book the film was based on) wasn't actually in the photo. New research, primarily photo analysis, showed that the man thought to be Bradley in the famous photograph was dressed completely differently from other photos of Bradley taken on Suribachi that day. It took until 2014 or so before the photos were subjected to critical analysis, so overwhelming that the author has admitted that's not his father in the photo. Further research in October 2019 has also revealed Rene Gagnon was not in the photo either.

* ParanoiaFuel: [[{{DidNotThinkThisThrough}} Strawberry sauce reminds Ira Hayes of the blood spilled in Iwo Jima]]. [[TVTropesWillRuinYourLife Hope we didn't spoil your appetite for dessert...]]

* ArtisticLicenseEconomics: While numerous sources indicate that the [=WW2=] bond drives were successful at meeting (and beating) their targets, Bud Gerber's speech paints a United States teetering on its last legs. Whether he was simply working off inaccurate information himself, or deliberately lying to the flag-raisers to put a burr under their saddles is not clear.
-->'''Gerber:''' You know what they're calling this bond drive? The Mighty Seventh. They might've called it the "We're Flat Fucking Broke And Can't Even Afford Bullets So We're Begging For Your Pennies" bond drive, but it didn't have quite the ring. They could've called it that, though, because the last four bond drives came up so short we just printed money instead.

* TruthInTelevision: Possibly subverted in that more recent research has revealed that 'Doc' Bradley wasn't one of the flag raisers. Even the author of the book, Bradley's son, has accepted that while Bradley was there, he wasn't one of the six in the photo of the flag raising. All of which makes his silence after the war even more of a mystery - did he know? Or did he think it simply didn't matter?

* ParanoiaFuel: Strawberry sauce reminds Ira Hayes of the blood spilled in Iwo Jima. [[TVTropesWillRuinYourLife Hope we didn't spoil your appetite for dessert...]]

** [[Series/MadMen Roger Sterling]] is running the bond drive.

* CriticalResearchFailure: not an egregious case, but after the film was released, it was discovered that "Doc" Bradley (the father of the man who wrote the book the film was based on) wasn't actually in the photo. New research, primarily photo analysis, showed that the man thought to be Bradley in the famous photograph was dressed completely differently from other photos of Bradley taken on Suribachi that day. It took until 2014 or so before the photos were subjected to critical analysis, so overwhelming that the author has admitted that's not his father in the photo.
* HilariousInHindsight: Your viewing experience really will be undermined had you watched Season 5 of ''Series/TheWire'' before this film as you recognise the guy interviewing the veterans.

%%* TearJerker.

* Irony: the film focuses on the struggle to correctly identify the men who raised the second flag and appeared in the famous photograph. After the film's release, it was revealed through further research that 'Doc' Bradley also was not one of the flag raisers, even though he is one of the main characters of the film and presented as such. Additionally, Bradley's own son was the author of the non-fiction book that the film is based on.

* ArtisticLicenseEconomics: While numerous sources indicate that the WW2 bond drives were successful at meeting (and beating) their targets, Bud Gerber's speech paints a United States teetering on its last legs. Whether he was simply working off inaccurate information himself, or deliberately lying to the flag-raisers to put a burr under their saddles is not clear.

* RetroactiveRecognition: Film/AbrahamLincolnVampireHunter is one of the flag raisers!

* TearJerker.

* HilariousInHindsight: Your viewing experience really will be undermined had you watched Season 5 of ''TheWire'' before this film as you recognise the guy interviewing the veterans.

* HilariousInHindsight: Your viewing experience really will be undermined had you watched Season 5 of ''TheWire'' before this film as you [[HeyItsThatGuy recognise the guy]] interviewing the veterans.