Redacted

I would give this movie 10 stars for the courage that the producers had shown to reveal the truth about was going on there in Iraq.

First of all I am an Iraqi who witnessed everything that happened since the first moment the war took place. I am not an American who is in favour of certain political wing or party. And it is really frustrating to hear those voices picking holes in De Palma's movie and accusing him of being biased or not knowing how the army operates or..or ..or ..etc. You don't need to know anything to be human!! and to stop killing, supporting, or covering for the killing of the innocents.

It is not about elections and politics!! it is about hundreds of people getting killed daily by different groups whether Al-Qaeda, the militias, death squads, or the coalition forces themselves!! The movie was so touching in every single aspect for an Iraqi who had lived there and witnessed the war. The combination of bad and good soldiers is so true. And choosing Sammara rather than any other province or city was so wise since the pressure and threat that the soldiers are under there is not the same for soldiers who are in rather safer areas like the Northern part of Iraq. Also the psychological pressure that most of those soldiers are under has been made clear in this movie; as well as, the negativity, hostility and racism of some soldiers..If you are an Iraqi who understands English, you can understand what the American soldiers mumble or yell about every time an Iraqi approaches them. You can tell from the look whether that soldier is a good or a bad one. Something that has been successfully shown and well presented in that movie.

Like most of the people who support the American army there and consider every Iraqi or Muslim a terrorist or "desert nig**r" or "rag head", most of the Iraqis and Muslims consider every troop a thief, raper, and occupier who is after money, oil and damaging or destroying Islam. But does that mean that they are right? they are both wrong!! All the movie did is that it put the reality of what is going on in Iraq in to cinema cause not all people follow the news or know which media to be trusted; moreover, it didn't say that those stories or characters are true or ever existed. And you don't need De Palma or the Fox news to tell you that!! May be it is true that they might not know a lot about Iraq, but what makes you think that you know better than them about Iraq??!!..

Another true and clever thing about the movie were the videos posted on the internet whether for the insurgents, soldiers' wives, or the people who oppose such disgraceful crimes. Also how, in the end, the innocent soldiers were the ones who pay for the crimes that their teammates commit whether physically (Salazar) or psychologically (McCoy).

I've read all the reviews above...... The American ones are thumbing down the film; and the rest of the world giving thumbs up... I join the latter group.... A courageous film (not a movie!); says what it wants to say in an understandable, simple way and yet becomes very moving.... This is not a film for people from NYC or Texas (see the very first reviews above); let them go to see the Transformers or Jumper; who'd rather sit back with a half a gallon soda in one hand and bucket of popcorn in the other and enjoy mindless flicks.. Finally an American filmmaker came up with a thinking-man's film and he is to be congratulated.. This film should be prized and shown to every war-blind and ignorant American who still blindly support the invasion of Iraq. Of course it is not a perfect film (one can never make a perfect film over such a horrible story) but yet very moving and pushing one to think over the empty definitions of NeoCons over democracy, freedom; liberty and humanity... A companion piece to In the Valley of Elah, I should say, and very well done Mr DaPalma...

Despite the many criticisms by others on this site, Redacted is a compelling film based on an actual incident that occurred in Baghdad in 2006. Yes, the acting leaves something to be desired, the 'mixed-media' approach is distracting, and there are some manipulative moments (the beheading, the final still); But this is still an eye-opening film on the state of events in Iraq and the trials that *both* Iraqis and Americans have to deal with daily. The scenes at the checkpoint are particularly well done. Some of the dialog between the soldiers in the unit is compelling in its own way; Similarly so the scenes with the Iraqi reporters and 'embeds.'

I've seen all the recent films about Iraq ('Valley of Elah', 'Lions for Lambs', 'Rendition' ) and think that 'Redacted' provides insights none of the others do. In particular, it does an excellent job illustrating the clash between the respective cultures of Iraq and America. (50% of Iraqis can't read the signs at US checkpoints!)

Is this film a bit of an unholy mess? Yes, but see it anyway and make your own mind up. I think this one deserves at least a 6 out of 10.

Redacted (2007)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

U.S. soldiers working at a checkpoint in Iraq see a 15-year-old girl, which gets them hard so they eventually rape her, murder her and her family and then set them on fire. It's really hard to judge this movie because on one hand it's pretty well made but that's no excuse for the propaganda coming at you every single second of the film. There's no question this is an anti-Iraq movie made by anti-Iraq people and that's why we see the things we do. Every negative heard about American troops is on display here, which is why this film is so one sided and why I couldn't enjoy the movie. I don't give a rats butt what ones opinion on the war is but a movie needs to be open and look at all sides of an issue but this is just like a Michael Moore film as we see one side and that's the side of the director and not necessarily a side with all facts. The American soldiers are all show as crazy, raping idiots who would probably be too stupid to have a job if they weren't in the Army. Is this a good way to show troops? The Iraqi people are shown as innocent victims yet we never see the ones going around blowing innocent people up. Wait a minute, we actually do in the film when one soldier has his head cut off but the film shows this as the right thing to do to the soldier. I could go on and on about this political propaganda in this film but the actually rape case is something DePalma did before with his Vietnam film Casualties of War. The film taking one incident and trying to show it as everyday stuff is just as crazy as The Birth of a Nation. I think it would be fair to say that De Palma has lost a lot of his talent over the past few decades and it's getting harder and harder to get a good film from him. I'll end my review on this last opinion. I find it funny that celebs in Hollywood think they can bring peace to the world, end hunger, magically make dueling sides like one another and rebuild a community yet they can't even make a good movie. Perhaps it's just me but if they can't even make good films or pick a good screenplay then how in the hell are they going to have the brains to do something bigger?

The thing we know for sure about de Palma is that there are no accidental or unintentional images, cuts, camera angles or words in his movies. What looks rough was intended to look rough. What looks like a careless frame was there to look careless. This film, like "Hi Mom" & "Greetings" (and even "Get to Know Your Rabbit) is not part of the Hollywood so many "reviewers" leaving their drivel in IMDb (aka the un-united statesmen) are either railing against or rallying behind.

As far as I could tell, this was a look at the world through De Palma's own Snake-eyes - via a camera, and a script HE wrote. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that a view of the world from his camera will not look like anybody else's, and most surely won't be subject to anybody else's rules or political agenda.

Back in the day when Martin Scorsese made "The Last Temptation of Christ," I got cornered next to a conversation of religious conservatives who were ranting about the "Jews who control of Hollywood" being behind Scorsese's film. I had to laugh -- and did. They all turned to look at me like I was next in line for the noose -- and so I pointed out that Scorsese was New York Italian Catholic -- and had contemplated the priesthood. And that he'd made so much money and reputation points for studios that no studio, executive, or other influencing body could or would try to influence or control the content of his films.

So again, there's a laugh here if you think De Palma is the tool of any studio, influential group, or left-wing agenda. The truth is, each filmmaker has a point of view that is their own - - or at least the ones who make the films we want to see.

And -- if you think Hollywood -- that herd of cats who make the entertainment which may well be our last exportable natural resource -- is wrangled into the lock-step of an agenda other than making money and making entertainment, then you've obviously never met a writer, an actor, a musician, an artist, a computer nerd, a designer, a makeup artist, a stunt coordinator, or an agent. As a group, the only thing they have in common is lust for MAKING. Individually -- their beliefs are as varied as Tom Cruise and Tom Waits. And their personal agendas may sometimes reach the light in the projector -- or the flash of paparazzi cameras -- or the blare of a talk show microphone.

But the statements made in these point-of-view films are artworks giving voice and image to the mind of the artist. Like Guerneca, Rhapsody in Blue, or Oliver Twist -- art is not just entertainment, beauty, or cleverness -- it is the expression of a personal agenda by its very nature. Artists are meliorists. They believe they can, and that they have the right, to change the world.

so get over yourselves. It's not a plot. It's free speech. And Brian De Palma has always been enamored of not so much speaking his mind -- as filming his mind.