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 Redacted
(2007)
R2 / PAL DVD
Optimum Entertainment / 2008
Directed by Brian De Palma
Written by Brian De Palma
Cast: Izzy Diaz, Patrick Carroll, Ty Jones & Kel O'Neill
Review by Phillip Escott
Brian De Palma returns, after the dreadful effort that was
The Black Dahlia, with Casualties of War 2 – Iraq; oops, my
bad – Redacted. One could call Redacted a 'companion' piece,
but I won't, seeing as I have too much respect for
Casualties of War. This is pretty much Casualties of War for
the Youtube generation. We are told the story of a group of
soldiers who raid a house, rape and murder a girl who
resides there – sounding familiar?
The only difference Redacted makes, aside from the quality
of story and acting, is that we are told the story from
numerous viewpoints and various types of media. From a
soldiers video diary, a French documentary, a Arabic news
crew, a wife's online blog to jihad website videos – De
Palma covers all the bases here. This is also the films
biggest flaw, we are constantly removed from the dynamic of
the soldiers that when they get drunk and decide to hatch
their plan we care very little for them that, as terrible as
the act is, could have carried more impact had De Palma used
another narrative structure.
De Palma takes the easy option with his choice of rogue
soldiers, the main thugs are unemployed, uneducated scumbags
who are only in the army because they didn't want to do
time. Couldn't De Palma come up with something a bit braver
than that? As is, this is a shallow imitation of a superior
movie, though better than a lot of his recent output, only
serves as a reminder to a period when De Palma made truly
remarkable movies.
De Palma also resorts to cheap shocks after an otherwise
tragic finale. Having one of the soldiers recounting to his
friends a true 'War story' (which is one of the highlights
of the movie) wasn't good enough, so the inclusion of
graphic photo's of mangled Iraqi bodies, mostly children, is
truly unpleasant, and frankly, unneeded. |
