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32 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Truth is more Shocking than Fiction, April 29, 2003
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.
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27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
It Matters...., September 1, 2005
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
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22 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Greatest War Film of the Last Decade, May 17, 1999
By A Customer
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.
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