In the world of cinematic commentary, the last year has seen a rise in YouTube videos in which professionals give their honest take on historical epics, war movies and even the use of snakes in big blockbusters.Casualties of War, Brian De Palma’s Vietnam War epic starringMichael J. Foxand Sean Penn, has become one of the most recent movies to be appraised by a military history expert, and it doesn’t come out too well.
Casualties of Warwas released during the late 1980s with several other notablemovies set during the Vietnam War. While there were several movies that focused more on action sequences, De Palma’s vision was to bring the realities and moral questions faced by soldiers to the fore. However, even with its big-name stars, the film ended up being a box office flop, despite receiving mostly strong positive reviews from both critics and audiences.
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The Vietnam War was a controversial conflict that lasted from 1955 to 1975, and caused soldiers and civilians on both opposing sides profound trauma.
The film’s attempt to explore the harrowing true story of a Vietnamese woman’s rape and murder by American soldiers played to De Palma’s usual style of filmmaking, which often includes darker aspects of human nature. The casting of Fox in the lead role, coming in the wake of his many popular comedy roles in movies such asBack to the FutureandTeen Wolf, worked out surprisingly well with the actor coming in for some hefty praise.
Now, the movie has come under scrutiny from Professor Bill Allison in a video forInsider, who awards the film a mere 4 out of 10 for accuracy in its depiction of bridge guarding. In many movies, including more recenthistorical films such as Ridley Scott’sNapoleon, there is a fine line for filmmakers to tread between historical accuracy and creative license. Allison says of the movie:
“Guarding bridges, very common. You often had US, ARVN [The Army of the Republic of Vietnam] forces on either side of a bridge over a river or a railroad bridge to protect it. Unless you wanted that bridge destroyed. I’m not sure you could be much more exposed than being on a railroad bridge. This is based on a real incident. A unit murdered a young woman who they had kidnapped and raped. Unfortunately in Vietnam, as is the case in pretty much all wars, soldiers do mistreat noncombatants. There are a few units that were notorious for their treatment of noncombatants.
“And right on cue, here comes your air power, which, I’m not sure those explosions would’ve been that way. Now, there you see an American river patrol boat gets in the way and gets hit by collateral damage there. That would’ve been pretty common for a river patrol boat. We had what we called riverine forces. So these patrol boats would’ve been going up and down the major waterways.
“I don’t think it’s the best duty to have because you’re out there and you’re exposed. Now, these things are armored-plate. They’ve got some protection, but you’re really exposed out there, open to ambush from either side of the river and things like that. So it was pretty dangerous duty. I gotta rate this one probably a four, because there’s just so much of it that’s just not right.”
Casualties of War Became A Surprising Hit For Fox’s Dramatic Acting
For many actors, being typecast in one type of role is either a dream come true or a nightmare. While some, such as Robert Englund, have embraced a particular genre, others are always looking to expand their horizons into areas that they are usually not associated with. For Fox, his biggest movies have been firmly routes in comedy, and attempting to break out of that mold withCasualties of Wardid not end up delivering the kind of box office win that he was used to.
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Michael J. Fox has starred in numerous television shows and movies, and has also written four books about his life and career.
However, both audiences and critics who praised the movie, also noted that Fox delivered a strong performance that actually seemed to win over some viewers who were not fans of war movies. As a testament to Fox’s abilities as an actor beyond the comedy roles he became famous for,Casualties of Warwas a resounding personal success for him, even if, in the eyes of experts, the movie is found lacking when it comes to its historical accuracy.
Casualties of Warcan be found streaming on DirectTV, or is available to rent from usual VOD services.
