Lors d'une mission au Vietnam, Eriksson est sauvé par son commandant Meserve. Quand Meserve enlève une jeune villageoise, Eriksson va se battre contre tous les hommes de sa patrouille.Lors d'une mission au Vietnam, Eriksson est sauvé par son commandant Meserve. Quand Meserve enlève une jeune villageoise, Eriksson va se battre contre tous les hommes de sa patrouille.Lors d'une mission au Vietnam, Eriksson est sauvé par son commandant Meserve. Quand Meserve enlève une jeune villageoise, Eriksson va se battre contre tous les hommes de sa patrouille.
- Réalisation
- Scénario
- Casting principal
- Récompenses
- 1 victoire et 5 nominations au total
Avis à la une
"Casualties of War" (1989) separates itself from other Vietnam War movies by focusing on the incident at hand, including the build-up and aftermath. Its uniqueness is augmented by Brian De Palma's slightly off-kilter style. The picture balances the beauty of the location and the artistry of Brian De Palma's filmmaking with the horror and ugliness of war & rape.
It's also realistic and compelling while simultaneously being mundane, which is why some viewers might find it boring. In other words, this is more of a gut-wrenching war drama with some action than a typical war flick with explosions and action thrills galore. It fairly closely follows the real story; Google Incident on Hill 192 for details.
The movie runs 1 hour, 59 minutes, with the original Theatrical Cut being 6 minutes shorter. It was shot in Phang Nga, Kanchanaburi & Phuket, Thailand, and Dolores Park, San Francisco, California.
GRADE: A-/B+
The good. Excellent score. Once past the intro, powerful mood. Riveting story. Well built scenario, very logical and nicely paced. Emotionally disturbing.
The actors. Michael J. Fox and Sean Penn are just perfect as antagonist. Don Harvey fits his crazy role very well. John C. Reilly plays the simpleton with convincing clarity. And I'll just mention in passing a good performance by Ving Rhames.
The bad. The initial jungle scenes lack realism, as well as some over-acting by the black guy in the first part.
The ugly. Nothing.
The result. An emotional and brutal movie. Not for the faint of heart.
Brian de Palma obliges us to enter into that indescribable hell, so that we might, with a bit of luck, if our feelings can bear the torture of witnessing such inhumane irrationality, understand a little more the agonising palpable naked terror which so many men had to go through.
However, whether Michael J. Fox or whether Sean Penn played their part better seems to overlook an obviety: without that performance by the Vietnamese girl, Thuy Thu Le, this film would have been forgotten years ago. My first seeing of that fragile creature some years ago left me nauseated, my stomache churned and I had bad dreams for several nights. That pathetic little face and her screams of anguish haunted me for days afterwards. Her performance was so compelling, rivetting, anguishing, it had me hating being a man. I only just stopped short of throwing up. Perhaps nobody expresses this better than `Tony's Corner: a Fan's Notes' (www.colba.net):
<< the performance of a young actress, a woman named Thuy Thu Le. It is to my mind, one of the bravest, most courageous, and one of the most heartbreakingly real pieces of acting that I've ever seen the intolerable suffering that Thuy's character Oahn endures, her emotional intensity ... searing power, of blistering emotion, and raging despair, the outstanding performance of Thuy Thu Le is central to it's success >> (end partial quote)
Amen.
It is one of those performances that no Oscar can ever pay for: indeed such a triviality would have been an insult. The film is cruel, sickening, loathsome, heartbreaking; but something humane, something I can't explain, something deep inside me, compelled me to see this poor `wretch' again, compelled me to witness once again her tremendous scream of despair against the bestial inhumanity of war any, every and all war. I have no love of morbidity: I shun such ridiculous programmes. But this poor creature called Thuy Thu Le forced me to see the film for a second time.
Enough: I will never see this film again. I have seen naked desperation and fear so realistic that my soul seethes to boiling point and is about to burst thus twice. That will do. In the end we are all casualties of war.....
No vote: I cannot reduce this to a simple vote. It just would not have any real meaning, would it?
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1 (Panavision)
Sound format: 6-track Dolby Stereo
(35mm and 70mm release prints)
During a routine field trip at the height of the Vietnam War, a young soldier (Michael J. Fox) rebels against his commanding officer (Sean Penn) and other members of his patrol when they kidnap a defenceless Vietnamese girl (Thuy Thu Le) and subject her to a terrifying physical ordeal.
Unfairly overshadowed by the simultaneous theatrical release of Oliver Stone's pompous - but still impressive - BORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY (1989), Brian DePalma's CASUALTIES OF WAR recreates a harrowing incident from the Vietnam conflict - first reported in 'New Yorker' magazine in 1969 - in which a group of otherwise decent men succumbed to their own worst impulses and committed a terrible crime. Filmed with typical cinematic bravado by master craftsman DePalma, the movie uses every inch of the scope frame to convey both the duality of the landscape (vast swathes of breathtaking countryside, where sudden death lurks around every corner) and the moral vacuum which stretches the two central characters (Fox and Penn) to breaking point. Crafted with blistering simplicity by screenwriter David Rabe (himself a Vietnam veteran and author of the acclaimed stageplay 'Streamers'), the soldiers are depicted as brave individuals whose principles are shattered by their traumatic combat experiences, leaving Fox to essay the role of peacemaker in a world where all the rules have been turned upside down. Thuy - a model with no prior acting experience - is truly heartbreaking as the soldiers' terrified prisoner, and her ultimate fate is so horrific (arguably the most disturbing set-piece of this director's entire career), many viewers will be too appalled to see the film through to its inevitable conclusion. All in all, this uncompromising drama emerges as one of DePalma's strongest films to date.
Le saviez-vous
- AnecdotesFor Michael J. Fox's shots, Sean Penn would be telling him that he was just a little television actor and nothing more, to get genuine reactions for director Brian De Palma.
- GaffesDuring the firefight on the bridge, after intense firing, one soldier reaches over to pull another soldier to get started down the bridge by grabbing the muzzle of his gun. That act would create severe burns on his palm.
- Citations
Eriksson: This goddamn thing is turning us on our heads, Rowan. We're getting it backwards, man.
Rowan: 'Cause it's a day in, day out dose of bullshit, man, is what it is!
Eriksson: I mean just because each of us might at any second, be blown away, everybody's acting like we can do anything, man. And it don't matter what we do. But I think it's the other way 'round. Maybe the main thing is just the opposite. Because we might be dead in the next split second, maybe we gotta be extra careful what we do. Because maybe it matters more - Jesus, maybe it matters more than we even know.
- Crédits fousA mid-credits update is presented on Hatcher, explaining that his conviction was overturned.
- Versions alternativesThe Extended Cut is 6 minutes longer than the original and contains 2 extra scenes.
- Bandes originalesEverybody Loves Somebody
Written by Irving Taylor & Ken Lane
Meilleurs choix
Détails
- Date de sortie
- Pays d’origine
- Langues
- Aussi connu sous le nom de
- Pecados de Guerra
- Lieux de tournage
- Dolores Park, San Francisco, Californie, États-Unis(where Eriksson gets off the train at the end)
- Sociétés de production
- Voir plus de crédits d'entreprise sur IMDbPro
Box-office
- Budget
- 22 500 000 $US (estimé)
- Montant brut aux États-Unis et au Canada
- 18 671 317 $US
- Week-end de sortie aux États-Unis et au Canada
- 5 201 261 $US
- 20 août 1989
- Montant brut mondial
- 18 671 317 $US
- Durée
- 1h 53min(113 min)
- Couleur
- Rapport de forme
- 2.39 : 1