Product: Casualties of War [UMD for PSP] (1989)
Rating: 4.0
Brian De Palma lives up to his promise....
This is easily the most true-to-life of all the Vietnam war movies. Much more believable than "Platoon", which relegated many of its characters to cartoonish caricatures, such as Junior and Bunny. In THIS film, the personalities are very recognizable as the very sort of young men who either enlisted or were drafted into that war. The characters of Meserve, Clark, Diaz, Hill and others are clearly drawn on real people and are recognizable as post war personalities, peculiar to the sixties especially, of not particularly high character.After repeated frustrations in battle, and spurred by the death of one of their number at the hands of the VC, Meserve, CO of the platoon, decides to abduct and gang rape a Vietnamese girl as revenge for the death, something most of the rest of the platoon thinks is a good idea. Ericksson, the new guy with the moral standards, opts out of the gang rape, and he thinks he has an ally in Diaz, a hispanic private of peripheral importance to the story, but when pressed by Meserve to join in, he quickly abandons Ericksson, who is left alone to report the incident to the brass of the company.He's met with stonewalling and sympathy for the PERPETRATORS, rather than cooperation, and he readily feels like HE is being cast as the villain, trying to spoil the "fun" of the others. Throughout all this, he has but ONE ally, a fella from another company who seems to think just like he does. Someone along the chain of command, though, also must have been in his corner, because after the girl is shot and killed by Meserve, he and the rest are all brought up on charges for the rape and murder of a civilian.Ericksson also has to endure Cpl.Clarke, a character who's actually a little more menacing than Meserve, with sunken eyes and the look and behavior of a drugged-up madman. Oddly enough, at first, just like in Platoon, Ericksson actually ADMIRES Meserve for saving his life, like Taylor initially admired Barnes, but empirical experience soon reveals what a dangerous group he's a part of. The psycho-drama, pathos and tension of this film is palpable, and it has to be one of the best Vietnam war movies as far as drama is concerned, and is definitely one of the best De Palma movies.Make sure only the people you know with the strongest stomachs watch this film, because it IS grueling in parts. But still very, very important and poignant.