Product: Casualties of War [UMD for PSP] (1989)
Rating: 5.0
A Movie That Must Be Seen
Director Brian DePalma explained during the excellent "Marking Of" feature that he had wanted to make this film for nearly two decades. Why do so many truly great stories take soooooo long to reach the screen? Is it because studio executives believe everything must be dummy-downed or that American audiences can't bear to watch a real horror story like "Casualties of War"?And this is a truly gut-wrenching story. You don't just watch this movie, turn the "off" switch and that's it. This story stays with you. It should."Casualties of War" depicts, painfully and directly, the dehumanizing nature of war. Yet, through Michael J. Fox's character (Eriksson), we see that even under these extreme circumstances, the most courageous people cling to their humanity. They don't completely resign from the human race.Personally, I consider this film far superior to any other made about the Vietnam war -- better than the much overrated "Platoon" and even "Apocalypse Now."For "Casualties of War" puts a very real human face on its story. While much has been said about Sean Penn's menacing and Michael J. Fox's tormented performances -- both are excellent -- I won't soon forget Thuy Thu Le, the actress who portrayed the innocent girl raped and butchered.I'm flabbergasted that one critic called this film "unbearable" because the victim was given so little to say and was so passive. Just how aggressive was this tiny "girl" supposed to be when confronted by an armed squad? She spoke but no one could understand her. They didn't care what she had to say. She wasn't human to them. And that's the whole point.What will haunt me when I recall this movie is the expressions on Thuy Thu Le's face. Horrified. Frighted. Confused. Innocent.Her performance, indeed, makes "Casualties of War" unbearable, from her screams as she's taken in the black of night, to her wide-eyed fear as she quakes when Michael J. Fox cleans her wounds. Thuy Thu Le's performances makes you wince.I commend De Palma for not flinching. He didn't try to soften the blows. He wanted us to be disturbed by what we witness.We care desperately for this girl. We want her to be saved. We want someone to do the right thing.And we know she is doomed.I'm surprised some studio huncho didn't say, "The hell with the true story. We can't make a movie in which the girl isn't saved."In the end, we as an audience are faced with the painful fact Eriksson must live with -- that she could have and should have been saved, but wasn't. Eriksson realized, even in war, that there is still a line between right and wrong. He had the courage not to cross it, yet he will be forever guilt-strickened by his failure to stop the others who did."Casualties of War" is a masterpiece, and as I look at it again with fresh eyes on DVD, I'm still amazed it did not receive more acclaim. With so much junk being put on film today, we need to recognize art -- even "gritty, hard-to-look-at" art -- such as "Casualities of War."