Casualties of War

Casualties of War shows that war can be ugly for more than the obvious reasons. A great dramatic piece by Brian De Palma.

The good. Excellent score. Once past the intro, powerful mood. Riveting story. Well built scenario, very logical and nicely paced. Emotionally disturbing.

The actors. Michael J. Fox and Sean Penn are just perfect as antagonist. Don Harvey fits his crazy role very well. John C. Reilly plays the simpleton with convincing clarity. And I'll just mention in passing a good performance by Ving Rhames.

The bad. The initial jungle scenes lack realism, as well as some over-acting by the black guy in the first part.

The ugly. Nothing.

The result. An emotional and brutal movie. Not for the faint of heart.

War is bloody, it's dirty, it's ugly, it's a nightmare, but what happened in "Casualties of War" wasn't war even by the most hawkish definition.

Five men, led by Sargent Meserve (Sean Penn), went on a short mission and along the way they kidnapped, r*ped, and killed a young Vietnamese woman. Of the five only four partook in the sexual assault while Pfc Eriksson (Michael J. Fox) abstained. It's hard to say what was more depressing and more disturbing: the fact that a platoon of soldiers kidnapped, r*ped, and killed a woman, the fact that the two leaders coerced Diaz (John Leguizamo) to partake and tried to coerce Eriksson, or the fact that Eriksson told his superiors and they were almost angry he mentioned it. All of these facts are immensely disturbing and I can only imagine that if this one instance did come to light, how many others stayed in darkness?

Whether you believe these men did these acts because of the war or because of something within them irrespective of the war, it was still depravity. And I got the impression that depravity was normal and tacitly approved so long as the men were good soldiers. War is no place for a conscience. It's no place for morals, manners, ethics, religion, or right and wrong. It's a place of following orders and being a good soldier. And if r*ping an innocent woman along the way will help a man be a better soldier, then so be it. It would seem that the Army would take ten Sargent Meserves over one thousand Erikssons.

This same story told by a different soldier would have you believe that Eriksson was a treacherous soldier not to be trusted. He doesn't follow orders and he's a rat. Meserve wanted all of his guys to participate in the violation of the nameless Vietnamese woman because then he could trust them all. If they were all dirty then he'd know that they were all equally guilty and they were all in the crap together. But if one of them should abstain, such as Eriksson did, then now you have someone who's not a part of the team. But how far would you be willing to go to be a part of the "team?"

As a plot, as a production, and as far as performances; this was a quality movie. Sean Penn was masterfully despicable. He played his character so well I'm sure his own mother hated him. But as much of a quality movie this was, "Casualties of War" made me sick. I was sick with anger, disgust, disappointment, sadness. This was one hard movie to watch. Some movies are hard to watch because they are so bad, yet this one was hard to watch purely because of the content.

This happened. I can watch the movie or not watch the movie. It won't change a thing. This deplorable and immeasurably depraved act happened, so why not know the truth in all its ugliness as opposed to some sugar coated version to make us all feel good about the Vietnam War and our soldiers? I think we owe it to ourselves and to the nameless faceless Vietnamese that were killed for no reason.

CASUALTIES OF WAR

Aspect ratio: 2.39:1 (Panavision)

Sound format: 6-track Dolby Stereo

(35mm and 70mm release prints)

During a routine field trip at the height of the Vietnam War, a young soldier (Michael J. Fox) rebels against his commanding officer (Sean Penn) and other members of his patrol when they kidnap a defenceless Vietnamese girl (Thuy Thu Le) and subject her to a terrifying physical ordeal.

Unfairly overshadowed by the simultaneous theatrical release of Oliver Stone's pompous - but still impressive - BORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY (1989), Brian DePalma's CASUALTIES OF WAR recreates a harrowing incident from the Vietnam conflict - first reported in 'New Yorker' magazine in 1969 - in which a group of otherwise decent men succumbed to their own worst impulses and committed a terrible crime. Filmed with typical cinematic bravado by master craftsman DePalma, the movie uses every inch of the scope frame to convey both the duality of the landscape (vast swathes of breathtaking countryside, where sudden death lurks around every corner) and the moral vacuum which stretches the two central characters (Fox and Penn) to breaking point. Crafted with blistering simplicity by screenwriter David Rabe (himself a Vietnam veteran and author of the acclaimed stageplay 'Streamers'), the soldiers are depicted as brave individuals whose principles are shattered by their traumatic combat experiences, leaving Fox to essay the role of peacemaker in a world where all the rules have been turned upside down. Thuy - a model with no prior acting experience - is truly heartbreaking as the soldiers' terrified prisoner, and her ultimate fate is so horrific (arguably the most disturbing set-piece of this director's entire career), many viewers will be too appalled to see the film through to its inevitable conclusion. All in all, this uncompromising drama emerges as one of DePalma's strongest films to date.

`Casualties of War' belongs to the same year as that other anti-war film `Born on the Fourth of July'. From about the mid-eighties American feeling rose bitterly against the aftermath of the Viet Nam war: the price had been too high. Too many young men killed or wounded and, worse perhaps, too many young men psychologically scarred for the rest of their lives. `Casualties of War' does not point any accusing fingers at anyone: the film is an anguishing account of a horrendous series of actions based on real facts. Even so, our interpretation must go a little beyond what the film tells us, what we are seeing. We must ask how many more service-men lost their nerve in the middle of that jungle inferno which was Viet Nam?

Brian de Palma obliges us to enter into that indescribable hell, so that we might, with a bit of luck, if our feelings can bear the torture of witnessing such inhumane irrationality, understand a little more the agonising palpable naked terror which so many men had to go through.

However, whether Michael J. Fox or whether Sean Penn played their part better seems to overlook an obviety: without that performance by the Vietnamese girl, Thuy Thu Le, this film would have been forgotten years ago. My first seeing of that fragile creature – some years ago – left me nauseated, my stomache churned and I had bad dreams for several nights. That pathetic little face and her screams of anguish haunted me for days afterwards. Her performance was so compelling, rivetting, anguishing, it had me hating being a man. I only just stopped short of throwing up. Perhaps nobody expresses this better than `Tony's Corner: a Fan's Notes' (www.colba.net):

<< the performance of a young actress, a woman named Thuy Thu Le. It is to my mind, one of the bravest, most courageous, and one of the most heartbreakingly real pieces of acting that I've ever seen………… the intolerable suffering that Thuy's character Oahn endures, her emotional intensity………... searing power, of blistering emotion, and raging despair, the outstanding performance of Thuy Thu Le is central to it's success >> (end partial quote)

Amen.

It is one of those performances that no Oscar can ever pay for: indeed such a triviality would have been an insult. The film is cruel, sickening, loathsome, heartbreaking; but something humane, something I can't explain, something deep inside me, compelled me to see this poor `wretch' again, compelled me to witness once again her tremendous scream of despair against the bestial inhumanity of war – any, every and all war. I have no love of morbidity: I shun such ridiculous programmes. But this poor creature called Thuy Thu Le forced me to see the film for a second time.

Enough: I will never see this film again. I have seen naked desperation and fear so realistic that my soul seethes to boiling point and is about to burst thus twice. That will do. In the end we are all casualties of war.....

No vote: I cannot reduce this to a simple vote. It just would not have any real meaning, would it?

CASUALTIES OF WAR tells the excruciating true story of a squad of American soldiers during the Vietnam War, who kidnap and rape a young Vietnamese girl in the name of fun. The story is told through the youthful and innocent eyes of Michael J. Fox, in a rare dramatic performance that may be his career-best.

Films like this can hardly be enjoyed, but CASUALTIES OF WAR proves to be unmissable entertainment and one of the harshest war stories out there; also, one of the best. It's a bit like watching a film of a train wreck, where you can't tear yourself away from what's happening and what you know is going to happen. The tragic, soul-searing story is one of the most moving I've ever seen.

A film like this needs a great director to tell it, and de Palma is that director. He wisely lets the story tell itself for the most part, but he can't resist incorporating a couple of flourishes (like the POV sequence) that remind us of his skill as an auteur. The cast is great, too, particularly the newbie actors (John C. Reilly and John Leguizano) playing soldiers and Sean Penn as the hateful sergeant. Understandably, Thuy Thu Le has the toughest role, and it's one she walks away from with her head held high; if ever an actress deserved an Oscar nod, it's her.