Review of Casualties of War (1989) by Xgary X — 01 Dec 2008

When a group of soldiers in Vietnam on long patrol kidnap, rape and murder a village girl, new recruit Michael J. Fox finds no-one will listen when he tries to report the crime to his superiors. Casualties Of War is a shocking story that is based on true events and Fox's attempt to become a "serious" actor.

It is well meaning, and Thuy Thu Le puts in a heart breaking performance as the victim but the film as a whole does not quite work. De Palma does not have the subtlety or sensitivity to do the material justice and although Fox tries his best, he does not have the dramatic range to convince in the main role.

The other characters are pretty much all very familiar stereotypical grunts and the dialogue feels forced and unnatural. The contrived and cornball ending certainly doesn't help either. It's a nice try at representing a situation where all sense of right and wrong seems at odds with an everyday reality that consists of murder and death but I feel it would have been better served in different hands and it lacks the necessary intensity of some of the better Vietnam war based films.