It's a fat glop of obvious screen manipulation that preserves a frightening human core, making the life and death struggle all the more shocking.
Casualties of War (1989)
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Reviews Counted:28
Fresh:24
Rotten:4
Average Rating:7.2/10
Runtime: 2 hrs
Genre: Action/Adventure
Synopsis: A young soldier arrives in Vietnam and is assigned to a unit of men who have been in the jungle for many months. Their sergeant has only one more mission to complete before he can go home, and... A young soldier arrives in Vietnam and is assigned to a unit of men who have been in the jungle for many months. Their sergeant has only one more mission to complete before he can go home, and though he has been a successful soldier, he has lost his will to fight or to care for his troop. When soldiers on duty prevent the sergeant from going to a nearby town to visit a prostitute on the night before his last mission, the enraged sergeant tells his unit that he will seek revenge. He concocts a plan where his troop will accompany him to the village, kidnap a woman and force her to come with them on the mission in order to furnish the group sexually. The newest soldier in the troop does not want to go along with the plan, but the sergeant's charisma convinces the rest of the men. When they eventually reach the village, the young man again protests, which fuels the sergeant's rage, and prompts him to initiate a brutal gang rape and murder of a young village woman. The film then moves to events after the troop's return from Vietnam, where the young soldier has decided to have his unit court martialled. [More]
Starring: Michael J. Fox, Sean Penn, John Leguizamo, Ving Rhames
Starring: Michael J. Fox, Sean Penn, John Leguizamo, Ving Rhames, John C. Reilly, Don Harvey, Dale Dye, Jack Gwaltney, Thuy Thy Le
Director: Brian De Palma
Director: Brian De Palma
Screenwriter: David Rabe
Composer: Ennio Morricone
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Reviews for Casualties of War
De Palma uses his consummate filmmaking skill to craft a reflection of his own grave sorrow about the Vietnam era.
Fox is quite touching here, topped only by Sean Penn in a superb, frightening performance.
Disturbing anti-war film with strong Sean Penn and surprisingly effective Michael J. Fox.
A tour-de-force for De Palma, Penn and Fox - possibly one of the best war movies ever made
Examines the dehumanizing effects of war, and implies that the soldiers who commit the atrocities are as much a victim of that dehumanization as the girl who they victimize
Latest News for Casualties of War
November 15, 2007:
Brian De Palma on Redacted: The RT Interview
Brian De Palma fans beware: his most recent film will make you think that the veteran director has -- to borrow a line from "Full Metal Jacket" -- been "born again hard." More...
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