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Casualties of War

Is there a more derivative major filmmaker than Brian De Palma? From “Scarface” to “The Black Dahlia,” De Palma’s career has consistently been marred by a willingness to purloin elements of other, better directors’ style to fit his own films. With the exception of “The Untouchables,” every one of De Palma’s movies has been an exercise in lazy homages and borderline plagiarism.

Given the director’s history, “Casualties of War,” De Palma’s follow-up to “Untouchables,” is something of a surprise. Though it is one of the final films by ‘70s era filmmakers to address the Vietnam War, “Casualties” manages to inject interesting thoughts into the discussion already started by films like “Apocalypse Now,” “Platoon” and “Full Metal Jacket.” This can be attributed to the intriguing storytelling and great performances in “Casualties.”

The film comprises a flashback of Pfc. Max Eriksson’s (Michael J. Fox) time spent in Vietnam. Eriksson’s squad, led by the no-nonsense Sgt. Meserve (Sean Penn), has its leave cut short when they are assigned to ferret out Viet Cong sympathizers in a nearby village. Upon arriving in the village, Meserve and Eriksson’s fellow soldiers kidnap a local girl (Thuy Thu Le) and, after traveling with the bound and gagged girl for many miles, take turns raping her. Eriksson refuses to take part, despite threats and intimidation from Meserve and his sadistic right-hand man, Cpl. Clarke (Don Harvey).

During a botched ambush, the girl is killed by Meserve and his men while Eriksson watches in horror. Returning from the field, he attempts to report the incident to his superiors, who don’t want to listen and quickly dismiss the girl’s death as a casualty of war. Eriksson’s efforts to bring his comrades in arms to justice comprise the third act of the film.

The primary innovation De Palma introduces in “Casualties” is a major role for a Vietnamese woman. In earlier movies concerning the conflict, women were little more than scenery or, at worst, prostitutes serving American soldiers. Le’s performance, however, offsets the gender imbalance; her role as the innocent peasant girl violated and destroyed by the cruel GIs is remarkable and haunting. Most Vietnam War movies focused on the loss of innocence, largely among the young, fresh-faced Americans sent to fight and die half a world away from their homes stateside. In “Casualties,” though, the corrosion of innocence is presented in a different light, as the murder of a Vietnamese girl.

Regrettably, the material surrounding the intense sequences between Eriksson’s squad and the peasant girl is not nearly as strong. The obligatory ambush sequence at the beginning of the film, while exciting and well-shot, has been done before, and the court martial sequence near the end feels anti-climactic. The lackluster portions of “Casualties,” though, are boosted by uniformly excellent performances, notably from Penn, whose Meserve is a multi-layered monster. Like Sgt. Barnes in “Platoon,” Meserve is as much a product and reflection of the War’s brutality as he is inhuman; his orders to kidnap, rape and kill are grounded in an elementary concern for his men as much as they are simple cruelty.

Fox, in one of his few dramatic roles, is an able foil for Penn. He gives gravitas and humanity to Eriksson, making the young soldier’s conflict relatable and, at times, shattering. Fox lacks the reflective quality that Charlie Sheen displayed in “Platoon” or the somber stoicism of Martin Sheen in “Apocalypse Now” or Robert De Niro in “The Deerhunter,” but he does bring a much more affable, human quality to Eriksson. Many of the protagonists in earlier Vietnam films tended to be more reactive than active. This is not true of Fox’s performance as Eriksson, whose conscience consistently enters in a frequently unconscionable conflict.

Written by: Adam Rowan

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