Details
Movie Description
After being denied the chance to go to a nearby village to visit a prostitute before starting a a reconnaissance mission, a tough, embittered American sergeant (Sean Penn) involves the four men of his patrol in the kidnapping of a young Vietnamese woman. The impending gang rape and murder of the woman splits the patrol into two factions, those for it, and those against it--with young Eriksson (Michael J. Fox) leading the dissension. But before long, the sergeant has convinced everyone but Eriksson to go along with the plan, making an already difficult mission unbearable for the morally conscious young soldier. Penn gives a powerful performance in this brutal, thoughtful war film from a script by playwright David Rabe (HURLYBURLY).
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 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.
Industry Reviews
"...A portrait of hell so harrowing it's impossible to shake....De Palma's merciless vision is unblinking..."
Rolling Stone - Peter Travers (09/07/1989)
"...CASUALTIES OF WAR is the strongest, the simplest and the most painful of all the Vietnam movies....It's about the agony of seeing terrible things too clearly..."
Sight and Sound - Terrence Rafferty (12/01/1989)
"...A superb film. DePalma may have found here the perfect arena for his darkly voluptuous expertise..."
Los Angeles Times - Michael Wilmington (08/18/1989)
"[The film] manages to churn out an effective moral conflict..."
Total Film - Ceri Thomas (04/01/2004)
Quotations
"This isn't what it's supposed to be about over here... ." -- ERIKSSON
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