I'll have to preface this by saying that, when I first heard about Casualties of War, I really wanted to see the movie because it sounded like such a deep, wrenching portrayal of the brutality of war. As a woman, the subject matter was of particular interest to me - I was young, but not naive, and I knew how lucky I was not to live in a war zone!

So, this said, I had high expectations when I saw _Casualties of War_....which were dashed, utterly and completely, by this poor excuse for a serious drama. Perhaps youthful idealism is partly to blame for my dislike of this movie; perhaps I expected too much and am unfairly holding the movie responsible for letting down my high expectations. Or, perhaps it was just a really bad movie.

Why does this movie irritate me so much? Lets see....

The Actors / The Characters: To sum it up in a phrase: brat-pack actors (trying to) do serious drama.

The victim: The only decent acting job came from the actress who played the victim. Considering the limited nature of her role, which had no English dialogue, she did a fine job of conveying the fact that she'd been horribly misused. I felt bad when the character was murdered.

Michael J. Fox: He is a good comedic actor, why did he agree to do a serious drama in the first place? Probably because serious dramas are more "respectable" than comedies. I think, however, that a good comedy beats a bad drama. At any rate, I hoped the "bad guys" would kill him because his character annoyed me so much.

And the rest: The actors were hampered by seriously stereotyped one-dimensional roles. Sean Penn played "The Sadist". Another actor played "The Weak Whiny Guy", aka the guy who whined about having to participate in the gang-rape but went ahead and did it. Poor guy, how horrible for him. "The Officer from Headquarters Who Tries to Cover up the Truth". And so on. Take every silly stereotype from every bad war movie, make a movie of just those stereotypes, and you'll have this movie. It was sad.

The Script: The script was abysmal. I've already mentioned the word "stereotyped", but I must mention it again: the script was utterly stereotyped.

The Plot: The "reason" behind the kidnapping, rape and subsequent murder of the girl was because the characters had recently been unable to go on leave. He'd planned to visit a prostitute and was denied that chance. Clever idea, no? No.

I can picture the writing process in my mind: I see a screenwriter who has a great idea for a war movie. His idea - some guys kidnap a girl, rape her, and kill her. One of their own turns them in. The writer is still desperate for the pivot point, however, upon which the plot turns. He sits there, slamming down triple espressos and trying to think of a way to explain why soldiers would do such a brutal thing. Now, is he going to think about psychology? Take human nature into account? Ponder about the realities of war? Try and think what sort of degradations might make him capable of killing or murdering an innocent? No, he has a deadline and he's going to take the use the first idea that comes to mind...He thinks for a while and, ah-ha! His caffeine-besotted, sleep-deprived mind presents a solution: a failed chance to go on leave! A chance to visit a prostitute denied! So, the sergeant will just kidnap and rape some village girl instead. After all, the writer's tired mind reasons, visiting a prostitute is immoral, so the sergeant must be a "bad guy" capable of any degree of wickedness. Problem solved, the plot is done. The screen-writer collapses over the typewriter with a small smile playing at the corners of his mouth.

Sadly enough, I think my visualization is probably fairly close to the truth.

Sociopath? I played with the idea that Sean Penn's character may have been a sociopath and that the other characters went along out of fear or weakness. Doubtful, however, because Penn's character seemed to recognize that what he did was "wrong" by conventional standards, something a sociopath, by definition, would not understand.

What would have made this movie better? Please indulge me a bit more. In my opinion, the plot should have concentrated on the characters' moral and mental decay due to their experiences in Vietnam. Perhaps we could have seen how grief over dead fellow soldiers turns into anger and hated. Perhaps we could have seen something that actually attempted to explain _why_ someone would commit such a heinous crime. Instead, the movie relied on the tried and true stereotype of "good people" vs. "bad people". A comforting stereotype, but not a realistic one. Morality is rarely "either-or" in war.

As far as I'm concerned, this stereotyped, wretched movie mocked the concept of deep, thoughtful dramas....

Recommended:
No

Viewing Format: VHS
Video Occasion: None of the Above
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older