Brian De Palma's masterpiece

Rating: 10/10 (11 July 2002)

Casualties of War is very powerful and thought provoking film from very talented film maker, Brian De Palma, the man who has made Scarface (1983), The Untouchables and Carrie among many others. Casualties of War is based on a book that is based on real events in Vietnam war. The names of the characters were replaced for this film, but that doesn't change the fact this is a depiction of what happened in real life. Michael J. Fox plays private Eriksson, one member in five men's league to go to a mission during Vietnam war and find some enemies and destroy their hiding-places etc. Their patrol is led by sergeant Meserve (Sean Penn) who after losing his friend in battle, begins to feel very severe hate towards all the Vietnamese and decides to kidnap a girl during their patrol in order to rape and abuse her with the other men during their journey. Eriksson cannot accept this and what follows is no less challenging and powerful than what happens in Oliver Stone's masterpiece Platoon.
Casualties of War is a depiction of morality in general and individual's morality and values. The film is set in war, but all this could have happened anywhere else, and now that this happens in war, it tells about the war itself at the same time. Meserve and his friends (Eriksson excluded, of course) are the incarnations of evil, something so wicked and rotten that has rarely been depicted this powerfully in "mainstream" cinema. His character is equally evil but not as symbolic as Tom Berenger's character in Stone's Platoon. Casualties of War is very disturbing exactly due to its characters' wickedness and how they treat that innocent Vietnamese girl they kidnap. The film becomes almost unbearably intense at one point and I felt genuine feelings of sorrow, anxiety and oppression as it seemed that any attempt to commit something good and justice for that girl fail. The ending of this film is incredibly purifying and relieving, but never too traditional or cliche. An ending this powerful was also in Takeshi Kitano's latest, Brother, which I viewed recently. Casualties of War really makes to think what's right and wrong and things definitely are not just that simple. The scene when Eriksson hits Clark to head with a shovel, is one of the most challenging acts of violence I've ever seen in any film. How can it be accepted? The evil is so strong at that point, it seems that by answering to evil with evil, one may be able to fight it that way. Then we must remember what Nietzsche said that by chasing monster, we must beware not becoming monster ourselves.
The narration is totally stunning and the last 15 minutes would not be as intensely powerful without the talent of De Palma and his ability to tell his stories this personally. The viewer definitely doesn't have a clue how this film ends since all seem to be just evil and there absolutely aren't any signs of justice happening. By telling how this film ends and what happens to its main characters, the viewing would be spoilt badly and I hope anyone who's reading this hasn't read any spoiling "reviews" on this film. The conclusion of the film seems to be, that by staying "good" and believing in ones righteous principles and moral, justice happens finally, if not in our world, then there what's next when we leave this place. The ending can also be seen in the girl's point of view as she is now in peace and never has to face the kind of horror and evil she met in man's world. The ending is especially rewarding for those, who kept believing in good throughout the film and never gave power to evil thoughts and wrong tools of finding justice.
The strongest element in this film is the screenplay as the characters are so personal and real and, fortunately, not shallow. They are real to life and represent all the traits we all have, active or un-active. Eriksson's character is as powerful as Charlie Sheen's in Platoon and the incarnations of evil are also equally shocking and gripping. Equally brilliant element in this film is Ennio Morricone's extraordinarily beautiful and sensitive music that really gave the scenes an incredible punch and made the whole film as powerful as possible. The music is perhaps close to Once Upon a Time in America's sensitive and sad score, but Casualties' score lacks all the positive and major segments found in America's score. Morricone's music in Casualties is perhaps his saddest score and that is really saying a lot when considered the incredible talent of Ennio Morricone's.
This film is among the few that made me cry. I remember having very strong feelings when watching Darren Aronofsky's Requiem for a Dream and Spielberg's Schindler's List (for the first time), and also after and during Casualties of War, I almost and cried since the power of this unique film is so incredible. Michael J. Fox' acting ability is one reason for the effectiveness since he puts his soul into the role and really acts naturally and feels naturally. It would've been horrible, if this film was ruined by bad acting or, even worse, by shallow and bad screenplay. Sean Penn and his friend corporal Clark are also so bad and repellently wicked, it is even worse to notice that their superiors seem to have same kind of thoughts about life and, in this case, about the girl's case. All these things give the feeling that no one cares and all the attempts Erikkson does are in vain. But fortunately that is not the case when this film approaches its end.
Casualties of War is challenging, very disturbing, emotional, rewarding and purifying piece of art, and really De Palma's greatest film, in my opinion. This is important and remarkable film and his gangster films and horror masterpiece Carrie are left behind this stunning work, despite Carrie and gangster films of De Palma's are also great in their own way. Rarely have I seen a movie this powerful and thought provoking, and since there are not so many, they which are, become even more important and remarkable and Casualties of War is definitely among those films. 10/10