America at its worst

Rating: Null/10 (20 February 2003)

Contains Spoiler! I would just like to say first off that this is one of the best movies based on the Vietnam War that I have ever seen. When I first saw this movie, It deeply shocked me. I think what interested me the most about this movie is that it was based on a true atrocity that took place during the Vietnam War instead of a fictionalized story which took place in Platoon. In Casualties of War, the story follows Eriksson, played brilliantly by Michael J. Fox, a new and inexperienced recruit just arrived in Vietnam who is confronted with a horrifying situation when his sergeant and the other men in his unit kidnap a young girl from a village and rape her and then murder her. Fox's character is then confronted with the agonizing choice of either doing the right thing and telling the authorities and being called a traitor or doing nothing. And when he does tell his superiors, he is told to forget about what happened and let it slide because this event will cause a major international incident and jeapordize the war effort. Fox does a great job of playing Eriksson, the young soldier who is haunted by this one event. Sean Penn also a brilliant job of playing the sadistic and psychotic Sergeant Tony Meserve! Penn's character starts out normal enough, but as the story unfolds, he transforms into a total and complete psycho! And by the end of the film, you truly HATE his character and wish that he dies! What makes this crime even more horrifying is the way that Meserve justifies it. Because he was stopped by the M.P.'s from visiting the prostitutes in town and that in his mind, she's just a gook. The rest of the supporting cast does a great job: Don Harvey, John C. Reily, John Leguizamo, Ving Rhames, etc. Don Harvey does an especially great job as Corporal Thomas Clark. He gives off a cold and remorseless stare that just chills you to the bone. And the things he says and the way that he acts towards the Vietnames people in the movie shows that he has utterly no sympathy and remorse as to how he treats these people. Total hardcore RACIST!!! I bet his parents probably dropped him on his head one too many times as a child! His is another character that you absolutely loathe in the movie. You just want to to go up to him and rip his spine out!!!
DePalma does a great job of filming the scenery in the film. It shows the natural and ancient beauty as well as the devastation and destruction that the war has brought. The film's soundtrack is also very good. It is very haunting and tragic and stays with you even after you're done. The rape scenes are also very brutal and will leave you shocked and disgusted. In the end, I think that this film is a story of morality. It shows that we have to put bounds on our behavior or we run the risk of committing unspeakable acts. The film also does a great job of showing how easy atrocities like this occurred because the Vietnamese were dehumanized, soldiers were taught to obey orders, and how ordinary and normal these acts became. One dialogue that helps to show this is between Eriksson's capatain and Eriksson: You just could't rest, could ya? You had to push it. Go to hell. SIR!!! One of the best lines in the movie in my opinion. I don't think that many Americans like this film because it shows Americans in a negative light, and I think that's why it didn't get as much publicity as it did. I think that this movie does a great job of showing that that the U.S. has a tough time admitting when we are and apologizing. The movie shows that we are indeed a VERY arrogant nation, and we like to think that we are always right. The atrocity that occurs in this movie also draws some similarity with the massacre at My Lai. As with the defendants in this film, the soldiers were hardly punished. And it took a while for the story to come out. I also think that the movie is about redemption. In the beginning, we see Eriksson still haunted by this event, and when he sees a girl on the train who looks just like the dead girl and tries to return her scarf. It is clear that he is trying and hoping for redemption and forgiveness for what is done. And after his conversation with her, the film shows that some of his guilt over this event has passed. All in all, I give it *****!