Customer Reviews

Casualties Of War

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4 star:		(22)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Casualties of War is a unique film. There are many films that depict wartime atrocities. This one stands above the rest because of it's character development. We get to know the guilty parties, and they are not purely evil, but are in many ways quite ordinary. They seem like regular US GI's at first, just trying to survive day by day.

Sean Penn's character (Sgt Meserve) leads them into an abyss, and only one of them (Eriksson, played by Micheal J Fox) refuses to enter. The others commit murder and rape, while Eriksson cringes. The separate perpetrators display trepidation, anxiousness, remorse and the lack thereof. Other characters exhibit cynicism and callousness. Their victim shows her fear alone.

This film is effective because it shows all but one of the soldiers as having different and human sides. Eriksson and Diaz (John Leguizamo) know that what is happening is wrong, but one fails to stop it, and the other participates. Meserve comes up with absurd lies to try to justify what they are doing, not only for Eriksson, but for the others, and it seems even for himself. Only one character in this film (Clark) is completely inhuman. His sadistic fervor and amoral smugness makes him appear as a monster, plain and simple.

This film is effective because it shows seemingly normal men in a descent into utter barbarism. Thuy Thu Le sets the mood for this by portraying the terror of their victim so well. Sympathy for the victim will surely make anyone cringe. But, it is by showing that the perpetrators, except Clark, are like most anyone that this film has its' strongest affect. How would we each fare if faced by such a situation? Who among us would stand against it? Who would succumb to it? This film strikes deeper than any horror film, with obviously inhuman monsters. It shows real people who become monsters, and is therefore vastly more effective- even more so because it all really happened.

This review refers to the Columbia/Tri Star DVD edition of "Casualties of War"...

A patrol of young soldiers, boys, who have become hardened men in just the few weeks they have been "in country" during the Vietnam war, take their roles as American soldiers too far. Much too far. They have kidnapped, raped and murdered a young Vietnamese woman after dragging her out of her hut in the middle of the night. All but one, have it in their heads, that it makes no difference, they are probably just seconds away from becoming a war casualty themselves. Taking their cue from a young, but toughened sargeant, they convince themselves for any number of reasons, that what they did, does not really matter.

One Soldier, PFC Eriksson, refuses to participate in such an atrocity. Standing up to the others, and actually disobeying an order to take his turn he opens himself up to the wrath of the rest. He feels it DOES matter what you do, in possibly your last few minutes on earth, and feels it is even more important to do the right thing before you go. Forced to listen and watch as a human life is abused, then destroyed, Eriksson feels he must do something more to avenge the woman and heal himself.His guilt at not doing enough to save her is taking a toll on him. At great risk he reports this story up the chain of command. The response is no better then the soldiers involved. What does it matter now?

The story is based on actual events that were first reported in the "New Yorker" magazine in the late 1960's.. Director Brian DePalma's powerful look at the brutalities of war that go beyond the battlefield is one that will stay with you for quite some time after the view. It's a hard film to watch. One that will take quite an emotional toll on you, and leave you thinking about it.

The cast is immaculate in their roles. We feel what they are feeling. Michael J Fox took a big step away from his comedy roles, to make this film, and gave us an exceptional performance as the guilt ridden, emtionally drained Erikkson. Sean Penn delivers the goods as usual at his turn as the Sergeant, who is losing his grip on reality, yet is powerful enough to lead others to do wrong. Thuy Thu Le plays the victim, she perhaps digs the deepest of all. Her emotions are so raw and real, you may feel like you want to leap through your screen and save her yourself.
John C Reilly, Don Harvey and John Leguizamo, turn in excellent performances as they rest of the patrol as well.The music by the illustrious Ennio Morricone brings even more of the haunting feeling to this already very emotional story.

If you are looking for a war story that is all action, you should pass this one by. Although we do get a good taste of what it is like for the men on the battlefield, this is a morality play. It goes beyond the horrific loss on the field of battle. It deals with what this war did to the minds and hearts of those who survived, as well as the innocent victims of the war.

The DVD is an excellent buy. All of the fabulous cinematography is presented in widescreen. You have the choice of DD5.1 or 2 channel surround, and sounds great. There are subtitles in English as well as several others. Bonus material includes an enlightening conversation with Fox entitled "Erikkson's War"(a must see after the view), the making of, trailers, production notes,and deleted scenes.

I don't view this film very often. It just takes too much out of me. But it is one that I wouldn't ever part with and is a fine addition to the films depicitng the atrocities of the Vietnam war

It really matters....

Laurie

also recommended:
(see my reviews for details)
Into the DMZ A Battle History of Operation Hickory, May 1967, Vietnam

Apocalypse Now (Widescreen Edition) [VHS]

Saving Private Ryan/Amistad

Along with Apocalypse Now and Full Metal Jacket, Casualties of War is one of the finest films about the Vietnam war. It should not, however, be viewed in the format available on VHS cassette, which is panned and scanned (at times, half of the image is missing). Like all De Palma films, it ideally should be viewed in a theater on a huge screen with stereo sound in order to achieve its full, emotionally draining, and audio-visually stunning impact. Since that opportunity won't come very soon for most people, wait until it comes out on DVD, at least so that you can get the letterboxed image and digital sound. Fox, Penn, Leguizamo, Reilly and the rest of the cast give memorable, at times haunting performances. Morricone's thoughtful score is exquisitely, operatically dramatic. And De Palma, muting some of his more baroque techniques, neverthless continues to explore his recurrent thematic concerns, pushing them to their logical conclusions in a war genre that is new to him only in environment if not in spirit (most of his films are about violent atrocities perpetrated by men). The film failed at the box office when it was released in theaters, probably because it disturbed audiences who wanted a friendlier vision of Vietnam, in which American soldiers were at least martyrs, if not heroes (such as Platoon, Born on the 4th of July, Coming Home, and the like). Other viewers complained that De Palma made his film too late in the Vietnam cycle, that his film retold a too familiar story. But this criticism is actually one of the film's merits and intentions: the first act travels the conventions of earlier Vietnam films that had become cliches (the Audy Murphy heroics, the wise black grunt, the male bonding of the platoon, and so on), only to explode them (and thus disrupt many of the viewer's expectations and foil their pleasure). Instead, De Palma turns to the horror of the rape in the second act as new ground other films had been too timid to cover. There are scenes in this portion that moved me to tears of horror and pity. While the third and last act is somewhat schematic, it provides the necessary moral weight for what precedes it. And the ending suggests that the nightmare of Vietnam, rather than absolved (a misreading on the part of many critics), has been imported back to San Francisco where images such as palm trees and young Asian women will forever trigger flashbacks of despair. For those who feel De Palma is incapable of such emotion, this film puts that misconception to rest.

Director Brian DePalma explained during the excellent "Marking Of" feature that he had wanted to make this film for nearly two decades. Why do so many truly great stories take soooooo long to reach the screen? Is it because studio executives believe everything must be dummy-downed or that American audiences can't bear to watch a real horror story like "Casualties of War"?

And this is a truly gut-wrenching story. You don't just watch this movie, turn the "off" switch and that's it. This story stays with you. It should.

"Casualties of War" depicts, painfully and directly, the dehumanizing nature of war. Yet, through Michael J. Fox's character (Eriksson), we see that even under these extreme circumstances, the most courageous people cling to their humanity. They don't completely resign from the human race.

Personally, I consider this film far superior to any other made about the Vietnam war -- better than the much overrated "Platoon" and even "Apocalypse Now."

For "Casualties of War" puts a very real human face on its story. While much has been said about Sean Penn's menacing and Michael J. Fox's tormented performances -- both are excellent -- I won't soon forget Thuy Thu Le, the actress who portrayed the innocent girl raped and butchered.

I'm flabbergasted that one critic called this film "unbearable" because the victim was given so little to say and was so passive. Just how aggressive was this tiny "girl" supposed to be when confronted by an armed squad? She spoke but no one could understand her. They didn't care what she had to say. She wasn't human to them. And that's the whole point.

What will haunt me when I recall this movie is the expressions on Thuy Thu Le's face. Horrified. Frighted. Confused. Innocent.

Her performance, indeed, makes "Casualties of War" unbearable, from her screams as she's taken in the black of night, to her wide-eyed fear as she quakes when Michael J. Fox cleans her wounds. Thuy Thu Le's performances makes you wince.

I commend De Palma for not flinching. He didn't try to soften the blows. He wanted us to be disturbed by what we witness.

We care desperately for this girl. We want her to be saved. We want someone to do the right thing.

And we know she is doomed.

I'm surprised some studio huncho didn't say, "The hell with the true story. We can't make a movie in which the girl isn't saved."

In the end, we as an audience are faced with the painful fact Eriksson must live with -- that she could have and should have been saved, but wasn't. Eriksson realized, even in war, that there is still a line between right and wrong. He had the courage not to cross it, yet he will be forever guilt-strickened by his failure to stop the others who did.

"Casualties of War" is a masterpiece, and as I look at it again with fresh eyes on DVD, I'm still amazed it did not receive more acclaim. With so much junk being put on film today, we need to recognize art -- even "gritty, hard-to-look-at" art -- such as "Casualities of War."

This is easily the most true-to-life of all the Vietnam war movies. Much more believable than "Platoon", which relegated many of its characters to cartoonish caricatures, such as Junior and Bunny. In THIS film, the personalities are very recognizable as the very sort of young men who either enlisted or were drafted into that war. The characters of Meserve, Clark, Diaz, Hill and others are clearly drawn on real people and are recognizable as post war personalities, peculiar to the sixties especially, of not particularly high character.

After repeated frustrations in battle, and spurred by the death of one of their number at the hands of the VC, Meserve, CO of the platoon, decides to abduct and gang rape a Vietnamese girl as revenge for the death, something most of the rest of the platoon thinks is a good idea. Ericksson, the new guy with the moral standards, opts out of the gang rape, and he thinks he has an ally in Diaz, a hispanic private of peripheral importance to the story, but when pressed by Meserve to join in, he quickly abandons Ericksson, who is left alone to report the incident to the brass of the company.

He's met with stonewalling and sympathy for the PERPETRATORS, rather than cooperation, and he readily feels like HE is being cast as the villain, trying to spoil the "fun" of the others. Throughout all this, he has but ONE ally, a fella from another company who seems to think just like he does. Someone along the chain of command, though, also must have been in his corner, because after the girl is shot and killed by Meserve, he and the rest are all brought up on charges for the rape and murder of a civilian.

Ericksson also has to endure Cpl.Clarke, a character who's actually a little more menacing than Meserve, with sunken eyes and the look and behavior of a drugged-up madman. Oddly enough, at first, just like in Platoon, Ericksson actually ADMIRES Meserve for saving his life, like Taylor initially admired Barnes, but empirical experience soon reveals what a dangerous group he's a part of. The psycho-drama, pathos and tension of this film is palpable, and it has to be one of the best Vietnam war movies as far as drama is concerned, and is definitely one of the best De Palma movies.

Make sure only the people you know with the strongest stomachs watch this film, because it IS grueling in parts. But still very, very important and poignant.

War is a dirty thing. It's not like it is usually shown in majority of movies. War is about killing, mayhem, betrayal and rape. "Casualties..." is just about this kind of war.
I was actually astonished by Michael J. Fox's work - I wasn't expecting such a superb and truthful acting from him. He's a good actor but I didn't know he's that good. In general the cast is outstanding - performances of John Leguizamo, John Reilly and Sean Penn are awesome. When you watch these guys you really believe all that's happening is truth.
This film is about how thin is this line that separates sane from insane, decency from dishonesty, man from animal. This line is easy to cross but I'm afraid there's no coming back. Along with Michael J. Fox's character we all are asking ourselves this question: would we cross it if we were there? What would we do?
I guess I heard this phrase in some war documentary from a veteran. He said: "There is a worse thing than war - and it is slaughter. There is a more important thing than staying alive - and it is keeping your dignity and virtue". I was thinking about it and came to a conclusion that he was right. And "Casualties of War" confirm this quote.

CASUALTIES OF WAR

(USA - 1989)

Aspect ratio: 2.39:1 (Panavision)
Theatrical soundtrack: 6-track Dolby Stereo

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 have been 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. Thu Le - 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 gaze into the abyss of human depravity packs a tremendous emotional wallop, and emerges as one of DePalma's strongest films to date.

This is one of the most disturbing films I have ever seen. It is a war movie that goes so far beyond war itself that Vietnam almost seems an afterthought. This DVD does not showcase an specific battle or heroic stand, nor does it document any significant persons or events in the war.

Rather, the approach of this story is far more basic: what is the relationship between men & women during wartime? Is it different than during peace? What if the woman in question is suspected of being the enemy? What is the typical response of the military hierarchy to an alleged crime? What can be done to minimize the opportunities of military units abusing their power and control? (After all, armies are frequently misogynistic to begin with).

Michael J. Fox belongs in a war movie just about as much as Winnie the Pooh is at home in an action movie. However, it is for this very reason that Fox is perfect in this film. This is not a plot that tells of manly men doing manly wartime things. Fox' character is an average-Joe human who is mainly consumed with the notion of getting back home in one piece as opposed to being shipped back in a body bag.

On a patrol, his detail (led by the masterful actor Sean Penn) decides to kidnap a Vietnamese girl whom they believe to be VC. They use this premise (misguided or not) to justify their having their way w/her while Fox and the viewer watch helplessly.

This is one of the most poignant war movies you will ever see. The issue it addresses is very relevant despite being distasteful. I cringe to think that the episode depicted was hardly an isolated case, whether it be a crime inflicted by the US military or any other standing army in the history of warfare.

In sum, this is a jolting reminder to us that warfare and ethics are inherently unhappy bedfellows. What happens in the field should NOT stay in the field.

Casualties of War, despites some of its flaws, is quite faithful to the original text which was a true story. Not many people realize that "Sven Eriksson" is a real person who actually experienced much of what Michael J. Fox's character went through in the movie.

But does it work as a movie? For the most part, yes. The two glaring problems with Casualties is the ending and some of the soundtrack music which DePalma uses to excess.

The ending, as it's explained within the DVD extras, is purposely presented as uplifting. We see Eriksson on a San Francisco BART train awaking from his bad dream/memories. He sees a girl who could be the one who was murdered and raped in Vietnam. He calls out the Vietnamese girl's name. The woman responds that he must have had a bad dream, but it's all over now. And then we get the "uplifting" music that rises to a crescendo.

Upon viewing the movie for a second time this ending is particularly bad. DePalma argues in the DVD extras that this positive ending was meant as a way to give the audience some relief. However, it's so hammy that it belittles the true story that precedes it. It's all a dream, it's all over, everything is now OK. But everything is not OK and everything is not over.

Which brings me to the one thing that this DVD should have offered - more information about the true story behind the movie. Why not go to Vietnam and show where the incidents actually took place? "Eriksson" is actually a pseudonym of the real man who has apparently been in hiding due to death threats from the men he helped put in prison. How about some more information about where these men are today? Perhaps nothing more can be offered about Eriksson, but at least we could have been shown in the DVD what happened to the men who committed the crimes.

I give the DVD five stars because this story is important. Americans so quickly forget these kinds of true stories. We quickly sweep them under the rug and say it doesn't matter. Casualties helps brings us back to reality, albeitly in a rather flawed manner.

If you can ignore the stale acting by Michael J. Fox - and that's not that hard - you'll discover a terrifically powerful and wrenching Vietnam drama. More personal then most, and one of the few to offer up a believably rounded portrait of the Vietnamese. And, of course, Sean Penn is riveting. Directed by Brian DePalma, the movie has a graphic, pictorial forcefulness that recalls his work in "The Untouchables." Not a hit when it was released, but well worth seeking out.