Review of Redacted (2007) by James S — 12 Dec 2007

The last three months have seen a string of glossy and politely-worded Hollywood productions critiquing the war in Iraq come and go across the cinema landscape; leave it to Brian De Palma to lob the Molotov cocktail that is Redacted into the fray.

Redacted is an angry and anguished cry against injustice and apathy, the most radical thing De Palma has done since the "Be Black, Baby!" sequence in 1970's Hi, Mom!, and while Redacted may not be as sharply focused as that sequence was, its sense of righteous indignation is no less sincere.

Critics have complained about the film's "bad" acting and "amateurish" production, but these aspects of the film are simply De Palma's way of acknowledging the inability of cinema to wholly convey or contain real-world tragedy (De Palma did the same thing in, albeit more subtly, in last year's The Black Dahlia, with its obvious sets, its hammy acting, and its leave-no-loose-thread-dangling ending all emphasizing the movie's movie-ness and, therefore, its lack of resemblance to the actual Black Dahlia case).

The format of the film--told entirely via soldiers' video diaries, blogs, and other "found" footage--likewise illustrates the impossibility of a total understanding of something as complex as war, rendering complaints of the film's one-dimensionality decidedly moot.

Redacted is not a perfect film, but it is passionately felt and dares to say the things that more mainstream modes of entertainment will not. It is a film that demands to be seen and confronted head on.