Casualties of War
Directed by Brian De Palma
- drama
- history
- war
The story
During the Vietnam War, a soldier finds himself the outsider of his own squad when they unnecessarily kidnap a female villager.
What it’s like
Humid jungle greens and washed-out daylight dominate, with a grimy, hand-held immediacy that keeps the squad close to the camera as they stumble through brush and mud. De Palma's framing often isolates a single face against the foliage, and the sound design leans on insects, distant rotor thump and sudden silence, with a restrained, mournful score that surfaces only at the edges. The mood is oppressive and tense, a slow-building dread that settles into a long, grim unease before the film turns to a courtroom where the air goes flat and fluorescent. Pacing is deliberate, with long stretches of waiting punctuated by sharp eruptions of cruelty. Its intensity is heavy: sexual violence and a brutal killing are depicted directly, with harrowing rather than gratuitous handling, plus frequent profanity and wartime menace. This is not gentle viewing. It suits people drawn to serious, morally unflinching war drama, who want to watch a conscience being tested under pressure and can sit with discomfort.
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