An untraditional war film

Rating: 8/10 (21 June 2005)

Before "Casualties of War", I had seen only two films about the War of Vietnam, "Forrest Gump" and "Apocalypse Now". Although being quite different, the emotions of American soldiers are same. They can't see a point in a war thousand miles from their home. They want to leave as soon as possible. They don't know much about political problems in Vietnam and they don't care. Some of them are losing their morale. "Casualties of War" is more similar to "Apocalypse Now". The soldiers do things they wouldn't do at home, some of them go mad. Four men kidnap a Vietnamese girl, rape her and finally murder her. The only man in the team who is against it, is Eriksson. While he has been at war less time than the others, he is not listened to. His companions quickly begin to tease him, calling him gay, coward and traitor. Greatly shocked, Eriksson tries to alarm the senior officers but no-one seams to care. Such things happen often during wars. But Brian De Palma shows us how terrible this can be. The suffers of the girl and Eriksson, both helpless and scared, are really depressing to watch. If Eriksson hadn't shown unusual determination and courage, the case would have been forgotten shortly like the most of the war crimes. During the film, four normal young men become maniacs. It's notable that only the less experienced man understands what is right and what is wrong. Michael J. Fox is best known as Marty McFly from "Back to the Future". "Casualties of War" clearly requires more acting skills and Fox shows he has them. The scene where Eriksson attacks Capral Clark who tried to kill him proves well that he is not just a complainer who wants to earn the respect of senior officers. He really wants the criminals to be punished. At that point it is difficult to believe that a couple of years ago, the same actor escaped by a skateboard from the bad guys from the past in "Back to the Future II"... The supporting roles are also interesting. Sergeant Meserve, played by Sean Penn seams to fit to the leader at the beginning but later turns out to be as cruel as the others. Capral Clark (Don Harvey)has a great sense of humour but finally he's the one who tortures the girl the most. Private Hatcher (John C. Reilly) and Private Diaz (John Leguizamo) just do as the other two without thinking if it's right. (Reilly's Hatcher is remarkably stupid, as many of his later characters later on.) Capral Brown (Erik King) who gets killed in an early phase liked me most and as Eriksson says, he probably would have stopped the crime. Ving Rhame's Reilly, sitting opposite to Eriksson, reminds me Marcellus Wallace talking to Bruce Willis' Buck in "Pulp Fiction". "Casualties of War" is a fine film. Although not as brilliant as Spielberg's "Schindler's List" and "Saving Private Ryan", it is a realistic story about the dark side of the war.