Casualties of War
(Region 1 DVD)
(1989)
review by Head Cheeze

In the late 1980's, the Hollywood movie machine suddenly decided it was okay to take a serious look at Vietnam. While films like The Deer Hunter and Coming Home had already given us a glimpse of the social effects of the aftermath, and Coppola's Apocalypse Now presented us with a brilliant yet entirely fictitious and stylised fever dream in which the war served as a backdrop, it wasn't until Oliver Stone's Platoon that studios felt it was finally okay to dramatize the actual events that happened "in country". Almost as quickly as one can say taboo topic the public were besieged by no fewer than a half-dozen films set in the still controversial climate. From Hamburger Hill's gritty ode to the classic war movies of old to Full Metal Jacket's dark psychological drama, 'Nam was, for lack of a better term, hot. While each of these films gave us a small glimpse of the horrors beyond the battlefield, the focus was primarily on Vietnam's patented brand of intense and confusing combat. Brian DePalma's Casualties of War, a late entry in the 'Nam movie boom, took a decidedly different turn.

Based on true events, Casualties of War tells the tale of a quintet of soldiers led by the young yet battle hardened Sgt.Meserve (Penn), a much revered warrior whose spent far too much time in the bush. When the squad returns from an exceptionally tough mission in which they lost one of their men, their plan to blow off some steam with the working girls in the local village is put on hold when they are informed that the V.C are in town doing just that. Meserve takes objection to this, and decides to bring some recreation out into the field in the guise of a kidnapped farm girl. The Sergeant's loyal followers have no problem with this, but new arrival Eriksson (Fox) can't believe what he's seeing. His objections fall on deaf ears, and Meserve makes it painfully clear to Eriksson that in the bush, there is no law but his. The squad torture, rape, and ultimately murder the young girl, and Eriksson is left to die in the field. When he returns to the base, he informs his superiors of what happened, but instead of being commended for his bravery and composure he is advised to forget it, and is targeted by his former commrades for breaking the code of the soldier- What happens in the field, stays in the field.

Casualties of War is rare in that it is an extremely hard-hitting and emotional war film that spends more time detailing the brutal life of the soldier at rest as opposed to the heat of battle. The actions of Meserve and his squad are more of a result of boredom, frustration, and a deep hatred for the people they've come to "protect", and they just don't understand Eriksson's outsider perspective. They think they are good soldiers; liberators who have earned the right and privelage to take what they want and burn the rest, and Eriksson, well he's a sympathizer, a coward, and bad soldier who doesn't follow the rules. DePalma doesn't shy away from showing every ounce of cruelty, yet at the same time, he's careful not to paint Meserve and his men as anything beyond ordinary soldiers. Meserve saves Eriksson's life, and, we are to assume, countless others, while his men are dedicated to their role in the conflict almost to the point of fanaticism. DePalma's tale is one of when good soldiers go bad, and is even more effective in that it is based upon an actual incident.

So why is it that I had such a hard time taking Casualties of War seriously? I have to place the blame squarely on the shoulders of Fox. While I've enjoyed the actor in his comedic performances, drama is not his forte'. His petite stature and boyish appearence may have won over DePalma, but in virtually every scene he's in I half-expected Christopher Lloyd to suddenly hover into frame in a flying DeLorean and yell "Marty, it's time to go!". This isn't helped by the uncharacteristically bland and melodramatic score by Ennio Morricone, which seems to be used as a device to show us that Fox is being serious by swelling to a crescendo with every shot of the actor looking "shattered".

Fox delivers lines with his usual "gee whiz" demeanor, his high pitched voice crackling like a man in perpetual puberty. When he grabs a dimwitted new arrival by his collar and shakes him up with a speech about "getting it together" it's meant to be a dramatic precursor to said arrivals demise, but, instead, it provokes chuckles that evolve into full on laughter when the poor "cherry" steps on a mine and dies. Seeing Lil' Mikey roughing up a soldier who stands nearly a full head and a half taller than him is just ludicrous, especially since the character, Eriksson, has only been in country a week or so longer than the guy he's trying to impress his battle hardened wisdom upon!

The other major flaw with Casualties is it's screenplay. I don't doubt that at least a few of the words and phrases used in the film were part of the common vernacular of the time, but David Rabe's script reads more like a laundry list of 'Nam lingo cliche. Still, even with the bombastic dialogue, Sean Penn manages to make his Meserve come off as more than the one-dimensional goon Rabe would have had him be. Penn's bug eyed and brutal performance is one of his best and, along with the haunting and painful performance by Thuy Thu Le, saves DePalma's film from the depths of unintentional self-parody.

The DVD from Columbia/Tristar features trailers, deleted scenes, a short called Eriksson's War: A Conversation with Michael J. Fox as well as a fairly informative "making of" documentary. The widescreen anamorphic transfer is pristine and showcases the wonderful cinematography of Stephen H. Burum and the gorgeous scenery of Thailand.

Casualties of War is a casualty of one very bad casting decision that almost ruins the film. I hate to knock Fox, but I've never been able to take him seriously in a drama, save for the real life drama he's going through now. Luckily, DePalma, Penn and a solid supporting cast pick up the pieces and manage to salvage this flawed classic.