Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Flawed and biased, but relevant., May 11, 2008
First, I object to the depiction of soldiers in the movie. Well, not the soldiers that are in the movie, but rather the ones offscreen. The vast majority of US soldiers are honorably doing a very dangerous job, with enemies who are constantly trying to provoke them to treat Iraqis badly. Those soldiers are NOT shown in Redacted and there is no reminder whatsoever that the psychopaths depicted are an aberration. That all said, the murders depicted did happen and there was no way to dress it up to make the US look good.
Most reviewers are focussed on the movie's primary subject - the rape and murders. This is Casualties of War v2.
To me, the more important point is made earlier on, as you watch the squad on checkpoint duty. It is a miserable position to be in, to be constantly at risk, at the hands of unseen enemies, in an alien country where you don't speak the language. The soldiers are shown to have lost most of their empathy for the Iraqis, and I am not sure you can blame them. You can't blame the non-insurgent Iraqis either, both are suffering. But what exactly is the visible difference between an insurgent and a civilian Iraqi? Darn hard to tell, from the point of view of the soldiers, that's the problem.
Re. the murders: out of 5 soldiers, 2 are psychos, 1 happily films them and the rest don't do a thing about it. Very nuanced, Mr. De Palma. The soldier who gets decapitated later is conveniently the cameraman. In the real incident in Iraq, an innocent soldier was kidnapped and decapitated, but he wasn't even in the same unit. Not a subtle difference, so why couldn't De Palma be honest about it?
So, why 3 stars? Well, 2 would be more to my taste, because of the anti-military bias. However, there have been way too many Iraqi civilian deaths, because of insufficient restraint on the use of deadly force (never mind that inter-ethnic violence kills more Iraqis, that's not what al Quaeda propaganda is going to focus on).
That seems to be changing, but movies like Redacted, despite its flaws, are a needed wakeup call nevertheless. Especially when a Vice President can condone Gestapo-era torture methods and keep his job. You can't win these wars without restraint but the troops are also constantly being put in a position where hesitation can get them killed. A very difficult problem. The price of getting it wrong? Vietnam, Chechnya, Algeria, etc...
To the troops: take care, be safe, be honorable. To Iraqis: may you find peace.
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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointing film, August 15, 2008
I was looking forward to watching this film having seen everything that's been done on the Iraq war and being a De Palma movie fan. But this film was a 'stinker'. 90% of the movie is watching home video of the characters who with all due respect for serving their country, are mostly racist,ignorant and sadistic. The worst criticism I can state about the film is that for the most part it's just boring. The 'message' of the film, that war is insane and it makes those who have to fight it insane is clear enough and even honorable. But watching that message thru one dimensional characters showing what idiots they are, while recorded by the soldier who aspires to go to film school when the war ends, is just not entertaining.
The violence and sheer boredom presented are all done okay but the story just 'lays there' and no character grabbed me or created any rooting interest. I would not recommend this film to anyone.
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11 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
This movie should be banned, June 19, 2008
First off since I have been stationed in Germany for 8 years and have served 2 combat tours in Iraq, this movie is like a kick in the gut. Do Americans really feel this way about Iraq. I watched the movie, and then thought about the real thing. I tried to keep an open mind but no it just wasn't going to happen with this movie.
I will start off with certain technical aspects of this movie that I noticed. Keep in mind Deployed total of 4 times to the Middle East in the last 10 years, 2 Intrinsic Actions which were 6 months a piece and 2 OIFs. 12 months in Samarra, and 15 in Ramadi. And one more thing a am actually in a combat related Job so actually hunting insurgents not just on check points and guarding convoys.
My first problem was not with the acting or even the subject of the movie as the killings did actually take place. But it was with the lack of research the movie maker had on actual everyday operations in Iraq. One note I would like to add is that in one scene towards the beginning of the film its shows a city which doesn't look like an Iraqi city at all. After that is shows the US checkpoint. Well I don't know but the last time I checked the US Army uses the M1A1 Main Battle Tank, not a Challenger 1 Britsh Tank.
This movie is a dicrace to Americans not just Soldiers or the Bush Administration. Its a kick in the face. The feeling I get from the news is that Americans like Terrorists more than its own troops. Well thats Ok becuse all of you who say the troops want to go home and all that. I say that I dont want to go home. I will keep going to Iraq or to wherever my country sends me. I speak for a lot of soldiers when I say that we do not need saving from a bunch of people who try to speak for Soldiers.
Every movie that I have seen does not even come close to the Iraq that I experienced and I was in some pretty bad places. One movie out there that is worth watching is The Kingdom with Jamie Fox, even though it takes place in Saudi Arabia there are a lot of similarities to the war in Iraq.
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