Casualties of War

Home
Smell the Movies
Smell the TV

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Year:	1989
Country of origin:	USA
Director:	Brian De Palma
Genre:	Vietnam war-crime drama
Starring:	Michael J. Fox, Sean Penn, John C. Reilly, Don Harvey
Rating:	5/5
IMDB link:	http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097027/
Tagline:	Even in war... murder is murder.
Favourite line:	"Nobody cares, Meserve. I told everybody. I told them. You don't have to worry. You don't have to try to kill me, man. I told them, and THEY DON'T CARE!"

Brian De Palma's much overlooked Vietnam movie is an altogether different animal to its more famous elder brothers (Platoon, Full Metal Jacket and, at the head of the table Apocalypse Now) but no less effective.

Based on a true story this recounts the appalling story of a small platoon of men whose sergeant, Sean Penn's Sergeant Meserve, when denied access to a town one night to get drunk and visit the brothels because the Viet Cong are purported to be in town, hatches a plan to kidnap and take prisoner a local Vietnamese girl to use as a sex slave ("a little portable R & R"). His men half think he is joking, but next morning, sure enough, they find themselves in a village searchng for the prettiest girl who they duly kidnap.
Fox's Private Eriksson is understandably upset by this and constantly questions the morality of what they are doing, ultimately refusing to take part when the rest of the men take turns to rape her.
Shortly after the rape, the platoon encounter the VC, and decide they must kill the girl. Meserve orders Eriksson to do the killing, but he refuses, as do two of the other men before Don Harvey's terrifying Cpl. Clark takes it upon himself to stab her. Problem is, he only does half a job so, when the platoon is under fire from the VC, she comes stumbling towards them resulting in all but Eriksson turning their guns on her simultaneously and killing her. When Eriksson reports the actions to his superiors, he is dealt short thrift, and informed that what happens on the battlefield must remian there, but he pushes, eventually placing his own life in danger to ensure that the dead girl at least gets justice served.

Powerful, moving and deeply upsetting, this is a movie about the ability of power to corrupt, as well as the desensitising nature of war itself; She looks like the enemy, so we can treat her how we want.
Excellent performances from all involved, this movie should be more highly regarded than it is.