Rating: NR
Genre:
War
Theatrical Release: 08/18/1989(USA)
Release Date: 04/25/2006
SubTitles: English/French/Espanol/Por
Dubbed: English/French/Espanol/Por
Sound: DD5.1
Run Time: 119 Minutes
Flags: Nudity, Rape & Sexual Abuse, Not For Children, Profanity, War Violence
Distributor/Studio: Sony Pictures
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. The script is by well-known playwright
David Rabe.
~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Average Review:
Number of reviews: 1
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A reviewer
from Fort Lauderdale, Florida
A Gripping, Disturbing Intense War Drama.
Brian De Palma's director's cut edition contains five minutes of intense, disturbing, and appalling brutal footage not shown in it's original thatrical release. Based on a true story set during the Vietnam War that would later appear as an article in The New Yorker magazine. Michael J. Fox stars as a young American PFC, who sees his tough guy sargeant (Sean Penn) and three other soldiers kidnap, gang-raped, and brutally murder a young Vietnamese girl, and he would later sacrifice his life and his career by testifying against them at their court-martial. Both Fox and Penn were not exactly compatable while filming on location in Thailand, as a matter of fact they never associated with each other. Also starring John C. Reilly, Don Harvey, John Leguizamo, Ving Rhames, Thuy Thu Le, Sam Robards, Erik King, Dale Dye, Wendell Pierce, and Sherman Howard.
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