Clint Eastwood has responded to Spike Lee's criticism of his two films about the World War II battle of Iwo Jima, Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima. At the Cannes Film Festival last month Lee told reporters: "There was not one black soldier in both of those films. ... In his vision of Iwo Jima, Negro soldiers did not exist." However, in an interview with Britain's Guardian newspaper published today (Friday), Eastwood said his film was about the American soldiers who raised the flag on Mount Suribachi during the battle. He noted that the black troops who participated in the battle were part of a munitions company that was not involved in the flag raising. "If I go ahead and put an African-American actor in there, people'd go: 'This guy's lost his mind.' I mean, it's not accurate." He then angrily said of Lee: "A guy like him should shut his face."
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