A LITTLE BIT OF HISTORY AND THE "CASUALTIES OF WAR"

Ok, so, there is actually a very good reason why a lot of my film theory books point out that the Vietnam war was one of the most “televised” wars in history, not necessarily in the same sense as the First Gulf War when we first got “live action” warfare but in the sense that there were many, many films made about it. I always am rather careful when I suggest war films. My dissertation topic means I have to watch a fair number of them (long story) but this has made me see that the good ones are very very good. The bad ones are horrid. Which complicates things even further because the “horrid” ones mean that sometimes very valid themes are put to one side as “oh been there, done that”. But they are actually truly worth talking about. Especially since this film about the Vietnam War and Brian De Palma’s latest film on the war in Iraq Redacted share, despite their many differences in theme, share some key scenes. Which means to me that despite time going by war is still war and we have a lot to learn… But enough philosophy, let’s get to this week’s fare. Casualties of War is, sad to say, a true story. Private Eriksson (played by Michael J. Fox who I haven’t seen around for years after is illness – I hope he’s doing alright…)is a new arrival in Vietnam. His squad seems to be an average group of guys. Their Sergeant, Meserve (played superbly by a young Sean Penn) is a bit rough but charismatic and an excellent soldier. His fellow soldiers seem an average group of guys. Until the squad is sent on a mission deep into the jungle. Angered by the recent death of a comrade and pushed to the brink by the horror of war, the squad decides to take their frustration out on the Vietnamese, or rather on one particular Vietnamese girl who is kidnapped from her village and taken with them as “portable r & r”. Eriksson cannot believe that his squad could be serious about this until the girl is actually among them, but once she is there Eriksson’s quest for justice in one of the locations he is least likely to find it begins. Like I said, the topic is not new. It isn’t new because stories like this, true stories, happen in every war. We are horrified to hear it yet a little jaded for having heard the story so many times before. For the victims however, the horror is very new. It doesn’t matter if they heard the story before. It is the first time they are witnessing /experiencing such a thing. And this is why the stories need to be told. Over and over if necessary. Until we figure out that war is a terrible thing. DePalma may well be accused of being overly emotional, the soaring, “typical” Hollywood scores and the emotional dialogue are all of a certain type of film. I am not a massive fan of his endings either (with the exception of Redacted – watch this space for the review on that one), they tend to be a little too “flowery” for my liking, a little too “fairy tale”. But Casualties of War is a good film. It is a very good film indeed. Don’t fall into the trap of saying *yawn. Another Vietnam film, let’s give it a miss.* The messages it has are universal.