Review of Redacted (2007) by Gary D — 28 Feb 2008

I only give 5 stars to a movie extremely rarely. Yet, this movie deserves it. In a way, it is a remake of Casualties of war (it is about the rape and brutal assassination of a 15-year-old Iraki girl by two US soldiers) but it is also reminiscent of De Palma's early movies such as "Hi Mom" (this movie is full of screens and windows: the Internet, surveillance cameras, etc...). It shows how the Americans over there act as a colonial power without meaning to (in other terms, if all the American characters are certainly not all monsters and psychos, the system they create over there creates a strong sense of humiliation among Iraki civilians and lead some of them to nihilism). By the same token, it creates an athmosphere where "sketchy individuals can get away with evil". It is surprising to see an American movie so blatantly critical of the US policies in Iraq.

A masterpiece.