Casualties of War [DVD]

This is a difficult movie to watch. There are disturbing scenes. I won't go into the plot because this is a review rather than a summary. What it made me think about was natural justice; the idea that a person, simply by being a person, irrespective of their nationality or religion or other circumstances, has certain inherent rights - including the right not to be brutally treated by another human being. The irony of the movie is that America, a country that has natural justice as the heart of its culture (the concept leads to democracy, the inherent right to choose who governs you - part of the whole right to life, liberty and happiness deal), in this movie is seen sending soldiers to a country, in this case Vietnam, as part of espousing that the western democratic way, natural justice, is better than communism but, in doing so, uses poorly educated soldiers and fails to control them so that they are allowed to betray the idea that they are meant to be fighting for and behave in a way totally contrary to the way that natural justice says people should act. The movie more or less asks the question, if we're going to behave in that way, and turn a blind eye when it happens, then what's the point? If we behave like that, do we have any right to call ourselves civilized and tell other countries that they should respect our morality and culture? It asks wouldn't it just be better if we stayed at home and sorted ourselves out before going around and telling other countries how to behave?
Disturbing stuff; a provocative morality play rather than a date movie.

Sean Penn is the best that I have ever seen him in this film. This is a film about soldiers that have gone wild in Vietnam - a law unto themselves. Yet the motivations of the individual soldiers for doing what they do (in other words becoming a law unto themselves) are very different. Having said that the one thread that brings out, or acts as a catalyst in bringing out, the different manifestations of evil in these soldiers, I felt, was the dominant suffusion of evil emitting from Sean Penn's character. This suffusion of evil is almost spell-binding and all weaker mortals can do, it seems, is follow (or in the case of the viewer is watch). It is this evil that is so strongly influencing those around him that truly makes this film a true masterpiece. The others followed as right became wrong and wrong became right. And when I watched it I felt myself swept up and transported to the Vietnam War. It didn't feel like a 'plastic' war film it felt real, as I watched the drama unfold - because the characters were so real. I would love to say more about this great film - but if I did I would spoil the plot.... A++++

Although the difference between the theatrical cut and the extended version is approximately 6 minutes worth of scenes, I must recommend getting the Extended Cut. The cross-examination of Michael J Fox's character and the skepticism and undercurrents of disgust which he is met with when the investigation into the atrocities is launched add so much to the film, further emphasizing that the codes of loyalty and camaraderie in place amongst the soldiers made exposing injustice an all the more difficult task.

The film is excellent. DePalma is more restrained in his tendencies to dazzle with technical prowess. There is, however, an operatic quality to the acting, more noticeable in some scenes; emotions run high, the music swells and the camera presents images (particularly on the bridge) that are painterly, masterful in how dramatic they are. These qualities contribute to the sense of what another reviewer termed as the "morality play" characteristics of the film. This film would be perfection for me if it weren't for a "big speech" convention near the end of the film, the type of speech that is too unambigious in stating the moral position of the film. It is the sort of moment that is easily parodied when looking at "oscar bait" movies made in the present era.

The Special Features on the Extended Cut are limited but satisfactory. There is a 15 minute featurette with Michael J Fox looking back on the making of the film. More interesting is the half hour 'Making Of' Documentary. The ammount of superfluous talking heads are kept to a minimum- DePalma speaks at length, and it is always interesting to hear him talk about the process. I only wish he would do Director's Commentary tracks for his films. What interests me about DePalma as a filmmaker is that he is unlikely to do 'puff pieces' to gleefully promote his work. He is up front about his political convictions, whether or not you agree with him, and also he is honest about problems he faces, often being the first person to bring up and address the criticisms directed at him. In both this and the "Dressed to Kill" Blu Ray he acknowledges that his films are criticized (misogyny being the most used term with regards to Dressed to Kill).

For purposes of comparison see Elia Kazan's "The Visitors", based on the same article and events as "Casualties of War". Though a much lesser film, DePalma's own "Redacted" does have it's merits, and is in some ways a Casualties of War for the found-footage, multimedia Internet generation.