| Casualties of War | | Cast : | Michael J. Fox, Sean Penn | | Director : | Brian De Palma | | Studio : | Columbia/Tristar Studios | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen, Dolby | | Released Date : | August 18, 1989 | | DVD Released Date : | March 23, 2004 | | Language : | Unknown (Dubbed), English (Dubbed), French (Dubbed), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), Spanish (Dubbed) | | Audience Rating : | R (Restricted) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | August 02, 2005 | | Summary | The Excuseable Americans | Content
 | In this powerful movie, green American soldiers who invade a foreign land are floundering in the chaos of combat with both enemies and civilians who don't want them there. The Americans are seen as barbarians who are ignorant of everything, including the customs of the country. "Casualties of War" was made in 1989, long before America's current misadventures in Iraq. But just substitute desert wasteland for humid jungle to sense the deja vu this film evokes today.
Everything has changed. Nothing has changed.
Cast against type, Michael J. Fox is just fine, surprisingly, as a GI who applies morality to human behavior whatever the circumstance, in this case another unnecessary American war, in Vietnam. Sean Penn also is even finer, unsurprisingly, as the sergeant who orders his squad to kidnap, rape and murder a civilian girl because war excuses everything, even blood lust. Fox does not participate and for that is punished by his squad and his conscience. When he tells the high command, he is dismayed to discover that "nobody cares."
Is there a parallel here?
"Casualties of War" stings like truth. Playwright David Rabe based his script on New Yorker reportage, later enlarged into a book. Brian DePalma directs with his usual fluidity and appreciation of horror, notably the victimization of the girl, a touching Thuy Thu Le standing-in for an entire people. Fox's work is poignant in light of the actor's later ill health, and there's subtle support from John C. Reilly and John Leguizamo. You have to return to Stanley Kubrick's classic "Paths of Glory" for an indictment of war as unsettling as this. |
| Rating | | | Date | July 10, 2005 | | Summary | One of the most underrated war films of all time | Content
| One of the most underrated war films of all time. Originally bombed at the box office, this vietnam based war film stars Michael J. Fox as Eriksson, a member of an American squadron stationed in the deepest jungles of Southeast Asia. After his friend is killed in war, Sgt. Meserve (played by Sean Penn) wants revenge, so he leads his men to invade the home of a young vietnamese girl (Thuy Thu Lee), and to take her so that the squad can "have a little fun". Throughout the film, the squad (excluding Eriksson) repeatedly gags, ties up, and rapes the innocent girl. When it's Eriksson's turn to take a shot at the girl, he doesn't want to do so. He tries his hardest to comfort the girl, and to make sure she stays alive. Eriksson decides to try to help her escape the hell she is going through, but he can't help her by himself. After the squad kills the girl, Eriksson tries to report the tragedy that he has witnessed, and bring justice to the front line, but his fellow soldiers loathe him for trying to do so. Definitely a must see. De Palma doesn't show us any nudity during the rape scenes, but the film deserves it's R rating. |
| Rating | | | Date | June 06, 2005 | | Summary | A disturbing Vietnam War story... | Content
| This film tells the story of a squad of American soldiers during the Vietnam War who decide to find a Vietnamese girl to rape. Michael J. Fox plays a solider who vehemently disagrees with this action, and is thus shunned by the squad. Supposedly based on a true story, this is quite a disturbing film. The level of violence portrayed in the film, while certainly an accurate depiction of war, is rarely brought to the screen with this intensity.
The audio and video quality of this DVD are superb, having been remastered from the original. Additionally, the special effects are very good, especially considering the fact that this film was made in the late 1980's. Other films from this era rarely have a similar high quality of effects.
The extra features contained on this version of the disc give the viewer a much deeper understanding of the film and its creation, and are quite enjoyable. Overall, this film is highly recommended. |
| Rating | | | Date | May 17, 2005 | | Summary | A Film To Remind Us Who We Are | Content
| As others have written with justification, this is not a movie of greatness, not a classic, neither written or acted impeccably. I concede the "close but no cigar" evaluation of previous reviewers.
I do not concede that this is an overtly anti-war movie, nor that it portrays all of the military in bad light. In the special features comments by Fox, he describes the film as a "morality play". And so it is, and for that it is an excellent one.
Read the plot description. Read some current newspaper stories. Perhaps this film would not have moved me so deeply if I were not reading newspapers. Truly I don't know.
Several times in the course of this film, the main character says "This should not be happening." And beneath the rage and frustration of that line, do I detect an unspoken additional clause "...because we're Americans" ?
Maybe I'm projecting, but as an American who understands that we are neither flawless or faultless in all of our acts, there are nonetheless standards which we collectively endevour, or should endevour, to always live up to.
This is a film to see whenever any one of us, or we as a nation, enter into any sequence of events in which our fundamental morality may risk compromise. It is a film to remind us who we are. |
| Rating | | | Date | May 16, 2005 | | Summary | SHOWS NAM like it was...and the after effects on the G.I.'s | Content
| This is one of the best NAM movies out there. Michael J. Fox is cast well as well as Sean Penn. It shows what our men went through in the war, as well as dealing with issues back home..but not like "born on the 4th..." This movie goes back to a specific incident that haunted an infantryman when he returned home...
Casualties of War was based on a New Yorker article by Daniel Lang. This, in turn, was inspired by a true incident which illustrated the dehumanizing aspects of the Vietnam experience. Michael J. Fox plays Eriksson, a member of an American squadron stationed in the deepest jungles of Southeast Asia. Sean Penn co-stars as Meserve, the squadron sergeant, who vows revenge after his best friend is killed.
He orders his men to invade a village and "requisition" a young Vietnamese girl (Thuy Thu Lee), who is repeatedly tied, gagged and gang-raped. The horrified Eriksson refuses to participate in these atrocities, and he does his best to console the girl and to attempt to free her. Before this can happen, however, Meserve orders another man to kill the girl.
Once he returns to camp, Eriksson attempts to file a report on the tragedy and to bring Meserve and the others to justice, but he is stonewalled by the brass and threatened with death by his fellow soldiers. Eventually Meserve and his co-conspirators are jailed for their crimes, but Eriksson can never forget his "compliance" in the incident by failing to save the girl. |
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