X
- 1989
- R
- Columbia Pictures
- 1 h 53 m
- 1989
- R
- Columbia Pictures
- 1 h 53 m
Summary During the Vietnam War, a soldier (Michael J. Fox) finds himself the outsider of his own squad when they unnecessarily kidnap a female villager.
Directed By: Brian De Palma
Written By: Daniel Lang, David Rabe
- 1989
- R
- Columbia Pictures
- 1 h 53 m
- 1989
- R
- Columbia Pictures
- 1 h 53 m
Casualties of War
75
5.8
Where to Watch
Summary During the Vietnam War, a soldier (Michael J. Fox) finds himself the outsider of his own squad when they unnecessarily kidnap a female villager.
Directed By: Brian De Palma
Written By: Daniel Lang, David Rabe
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 24 Critic Reviews
75
71% Positive
17 Reviews
17 Reviews
21% Mixed
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
8% Negative
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 24 Critic Reviews
75
71% Positive
17 Reviews
17 Reviews
21% Mixed
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
8% Negative
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
Casualties of War is just as successful as "Platoon" was in making us feel Vietnam's moment-by-moment tension, but its central event gives it more resonance. [18 Aug 1989, p.43]
Even at their most disturbing, Brian De Palma's films have always seemed like brilliant abstractions, sinister theorems from a bloody virtuoso. But Casualties of War, the director's rigorous, unflinching, masterly new film, is something else altogether. It is a film of great emotional power and great seriousness in which all of the filmmaker's talents and interests are in balance. It is a breakthrough work, a signal of an artist's blossoming maturity, and one of the most punishing, morally complex movies about men at war ever made.
Casting Fox was a brilliant coup on De Palma’s part, since he brings with him an image of all-American boyishness and eager-beaver conservatism. Fox’s beautifully acted cowardly passivity in the face of the unthinkable challenges and implicates the viewer to examine his own conscience on the subject of Vietnam.
Michael J. Fox is a revelation as the mouse that roared, whilst the score, the direction, and the rest of the cast turn a risky film into a solid addition to the Nam canon.
Mr. Penn plays Meserve with terrific elan. There is plausibility in every movement and gesture, and especially in his crafty handsomeness. His Meserve is the sort of man one credits with thoughts when the mind may, in fact, be completely blank.
The results are obviously sincere and relatively serious for De Palma (with a fresh handling of wide-screen composition that plays on some of the moral conflicts and ambiguities), but the entire film is predicated on a fairly unquestioning acceptance of the morality of the U.S. involvement in Vietnam—the issue of whether the highly principled hero enlisted or was drafted isn't even brought up—as well as a refusal to link this war with other U.S. involvements in the third world. So the feeling of helplessness that the film honors and provokes amounts to a moral cop-out rather than a genuine confrontation with what the war meant and continues to mean.
De Palma is not a director one looks to for conscience, and his track record on the issue of rape has been innocent of moral debate. It's odd to find him dealing with both, and the non-sensationalist approach seems to have taken a toll on his energies: Casualties of War is dull.
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 18 User Ratings
5.8
56% Positive
10 Ratings
10 Ratings
22% Mixed
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
22% Negative
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 18 User Ratings
5.8
56% Positive
10 Ratings
10 Ratings
22% Mixed
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
22% Negative
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
There are no user reviews yet. Be the first to add a review.
Awards
Golden Globes, USA
• 1 Nomination
Political Film Society, USA
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
Motion Picture Sound Editors, USA
• 1 Nomination
