Flag Day

As of November 2006, the Department of Defense had confirmed over 2,800 deaths of U.S. soldiers in Iraq. Kristy Higby's documentary short Flag Day highlights one response to this growing statistic: Tom Sadowski's front yard in Rockport, ME, where he has planted orange flags for each soldier killed in Iraq. In interview clips here, Sadowski says he hopes that this visual representation will awaken people from both their ignorance and complacency about the true costs of the war in Iraq, although he considers the project apolitical, simply motivated by respect for the soldiers and their families and friends. Throughout the film, a collage of text and audio details the names of the fallen soldiers and causes of death, to dramatic effect. The seven-minute Flag Day is not investigative journalism, but rather an effective meditation on the real lives behind an abstract number. Recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (J. Wadland)