Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} Casualties of War by Daniel Lang Casualties of War: in the company of military men. In 1969, the New Yorker published a report by Daniel Lang about the court martial of a group of men who had served in Vietnam. The five-man squad, led by a 20-year-old sergeant, Tony Meserve, had been sent on patrol. At the outset, Meserve had declared his intention to kidnap a girl from a local village, gang rape her "for the morale of the squad", and then murder her. Private Sven Eriksson initially thought Meserve must be joking. He was not. It was Eriksson's testimony that informed both the trial and the New Yorker. All names in the report, and Brian De Palma's film, are pseudonyms. On patrol in the jungle, Eriksson falls waist-deep down a hole and is trapped, his legs dangling into a Viet Cong tunnel. At great risk to himself, Meserve runs in to save Eriksson, hoisting him out just in time. In real life, Meserve never rescued Eriksson, but he had been nominated for a Bronze Star on a similar occasion, coming to the aid of a GI whose ammo pouch had exploded. From a narrative point of view, the change makes sense. It also establishes the true fact that Meserve had a heroic reputation. Violence. Abuse . Don Harvey and Thuy Thu Le in Casualties of War. The events of the squad's mission aren't the sort of thing you want to read about over breakfast. Suffice to say that the film's depiction is not exaggerated and, if anything, stops mercifully short of the full horror. Though there are a couple of minor changes to characters, the group dynamic is accurate in terms of power and psychology. As in the original piece, the widespread acceptance and encouragement of this mindset within army culture leaves the audience wondering just how often something like this happened and we didn't hear about it. Casting. No comfort here . It's easy to see the decision to cast Sean Penn as Meserve, but who decided to send Marty McFly to Vietnam? Well, whoever did was a genius. Though Michael J Fox may not be an obvious choice for such a harrowing role, he is perfect as Eriksson. The very fact that he comes across as a clean-cut, amiable, ordinary guy, completely out of his comfort zone, is what makes the film so shocking. The environment of war did (and does) put ordinary people in horrific situations, and it can (and does) turn them into monsters. People. Rights on . Ving Rhames as Reilly. A traumatised Eriksson goes to his commanding officer, Reilly, to blow the whistle. Reilly, who is black, responds by telling a lengthy anecdote about how his wife, who is also black, was once refused entry to a whites-only hospital. He lost his temper, and was sent to jail. Alarmingly, the point is supposed to be that Eriksson won't achieve anything by rocking the boat. The scene feels weird and tokenistic: isn't Vietnam enough of a story without conflating it with the civil rights struggle? Surprisingly enough, it's accurate. The real Lieutenant Reilly did respond in precisely this bizarre fashion. Justice. Despite the obstructive behaviour of every officer involved, Eriksson eventually gets his story out via a priest, and a court martial is convened. So far, so good; but the final scenes showing the conviction of the men involved are misleading. The tone of outrage from the unseen investigators gives the impression that the military was surprised or appalled that this happened, whereas there is little evidence that anyone was. There is also no mention of the fact that the sentences handed out to the convicted men were greatly reduced on appeal. Finally, DePalma tacks on a schmaltzy scene in which Eriksson awakes on a bus to find an Asian-American woman, played by the same actress as the rape victim, kindly inquiring as to whether he has had a bad dream and telling him it's over now. In real life, though Eriksson did experience flashbacks, it certainly wasn't all right in the end. Verdict. An impressively faithful and highly effective film, aside from the misjudged happy ending. Casualties of War. The searing account of a war crime and one soldier's heroic efforts to bring the perpetrators to justice First published in the New Yorker in 1969 and later adapted into an acclaimed film starring Michael J. Fox and Sean Penn, Casualties of War is the shocking true story of the abduction, rape, and murder of a young Vietnamese woman by US soldiers. Before setting out on a five-day reconnaissance mission in the Central Highlands of South Vietnam, Sergeant Tony Meserve told the four men under his command that their first objective would be to kidnap a girl and bring her along "for the morale of the squad." At the end of the mission, Meserve said, they would kill their victim and dispose of the body to avoid prosecution for abduction and rape—capital crimes in the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Private First Class Sven Eriksson was the only member of the patrol who refused to participate in the atrocity. Haunted by his inability to save the young woman's life, he vowed to see Meserve and the others convicted of their crimes. Faced with the cynical indifference of his commanding officers and outright hostility from his fellow infantrymen, Eriksson had the tenacity to persevere. He went on to serve as the government's chief witness in four courts-martial related to the infamous Incident on Hill 192. A masterpiece of contemporary journalism, Casualties of War is a clear-eyed, powerfully affecting portrait of the horrors of warfare and the true meaning of courage. Casualties of War by Daniel Lang. (director/writer: Brian De Palma; screenwriters: story by Daniel Lang/David Rabe ; cinematographer: Stephen H. Burum ; editor: Bill Pankow; music: Ennio Morricone; cast: Michael J. Fox ( Eriksson ), Sean Penn ( Sgt. Meserve ), John C. Reilly ( PFC Herbert Hatcher ), Don Harvey ( Cpl. Thomas E. Clark ), John Leguizamo ( Diaz ), Thuy Thu Le (Oanh), Ving Rhames ( Lt. Reilly), Erik King (Brown) ; Runtime: 103; MPAA Rating: R; producers: Art Linson/Fred Caruso ; Sony Pictures Home Entertainment; 1989) “M akes us look at the mistaken Vietnam War as something that’s dehumanizing.” Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz. Daniel Lang’s 1969 New Yorker article is adapted to the big screen by director Brian De Palma (“Greetings”/”Raising Cain”/”Femme Fatale”) . It’s co-written by De Palma and the Vietnam War veteran p laywright David Rabe. It’s a flawed film, with too many pious speeches (thanks to Rabe’s script). But it’s also a provocative Vietnam War film, that makes us look at the mistaken Vietnam War as something that’s dehumanizing . The one tragic incident revealed becomes a metaphor for the war being morally wrong. Though for the most part it’s gripping and disturbing, but in the final act the fact-based story, based on a true war incident, leaves us with a phony, puzzling and absurd ending that tries unsuccessfully to resolve the conflict the whistle-blower hero still has after his discharge. The emotionally powerful story, set during the Vietnam War, in 1966, tells of a five-soldier squad on a long-range reconnaissance mission. They kidnapped a South Vietnamese girl ( Thuy Thu Le ) and take her miles away from her village, where four of the five men rape, torture and eventually stab her to death. Sgt.Meserve ( Sean Penn ) orders the kidnapping so that she can service his men with a little R&R. Only the clean-cut newcomer, Pfc. Eriksson (Michael J. Fox), refuses to participate and opposes the evil sergeant. When back at the home base, the rookie reports the incident and aims to bring the guilty parties to justice. As a result, the sergeant attempts to kill him in the latrine. Don Harvey and John C. Reilly are two members of the squad who unquestionably go along with the rape and murder, while John Leguizamo is at first reluctant but is pressured into joining the group assault. The savage incident is revolting and shooting it in slow-motion is both exploitative and searing. In any case, the film lets us know that just opposing the war is not enough-one must actively try and stop the bad war. REVIEW/FILM; IN 'CASUALTIES OF WAR,' GROUP LOYALTY VS. INDIVIDUAL CONSCIENCE. ''We're going to requisition a girl for a little portable R. & R.,'' Sergeant Meserve tells the four members of his squad at the end of a briefing. Three of the men laugh. It sounds like a joke. One man, Private Eriksson, who has been in Vietnam a month, is bewildered. The men are leaving the next morning on a five-day reconnaissance patrol in search of Vietcong bunkers, trenches, caves and arms caches. The mission is dangerous but it's also a chance to get away from authority. In the field the men are free as long as they live. The sergeant was not joking. Before dawn, under Meserve's instructions, they kidnap a young Vietnamese woman from a nearby village, gag her, bind her hands and take her with them into the highlands. In the course of the first two days, they rape her. When threatened with exposure, they murder her. Only Eriksson refuses to participate. When he gets back to base, for reasons he cannot easily articulate, against the advice of commissioned officers, Eriksson turns in his comrades. This is the bleeding heart of Brian De Palma's earnest, troubling ''Casualties of War,'' which opens today at the Baronet and other theaters. Taking the true story of Private Eriksson (the name is fictitious), as reported by Daniel Lang in The New Yorker in 1969, just three years after the events occurred, Mr. De Palma, the director, and David Rabe, the writer, have made a film to stand alongside and complement Oliver Stone's ''Platoon'' and Stanley Kubrick's ''Full Metal Jacket.'' ''Casualties of War'' is more lean of line than the two earlier films. It is more like ''Paths of Glory,'' Mr. Kubrick's spare, black-and-white classic about World War I. It is less about the random physical horrors of war, less about the system that makes men able to fight wars, than about individual responsibility. This is cinema of conscience about a man, still seen by many as a stool pigeon, who tries to buck the chain of command that effectively neutralizes all guilt. Mr. Rabe has disassociated himself from the film, charging that Mr. De Palma has not been faithful to his work, but his screenplay is one of the best things about the movie. He is correct in saying that the finished film simplifies complex relationships. It also ends with a coda so stupid that one might be advised to leave the film early. Yet the movie manages to deal in ideas without, apparently, ever talking about them. ''Casualties of War'' moves toward its climax so inevitably and surely that the courts-martial, which are the film's penultimate sequence, are no less riveting for the theatrical way in which they have been compressed. Very questionable is Mr. De Palma's decision (which I take it to be) to withhold from the audience information about the ultimate disposition of the cases. By suppressing this, the film undercuts its own stark pessimism. ''Casualties of War'' has one splendid performance and another one worthy of special note. Sean Penn is extremely fine as Meserve, a natural leader with no great amount of book-learning. He's a comradely, foul-mouthed naif who finds war exhilarating, at least up to a point. Among other things, this is the first time in his life that Meserve has been able to excel. It is one of the more sorrowful aspects of ''Casualties of War'' that Meserve's brutality toward the Vietnamese is seen by his buddies and the officers as being understandably aberrant. Anything can be tolerated in a world devoid of moral values. There are no fixed norms by which behavior can be judged. Mr. Penn plays Meserve with terrific elan. There is plausibility in every movement and gesture, and especially in his crafty handsomeness. His Meserve is the sort of man one credits with thoughts when the mind may, in fact, be completely blank. Michael J. Fox plays the conscience-striken Eriksson as best he can, considering his perennial-juvenile features and our long association with him as the young man with the snappy retorts on television's ''Family Ties.'' The role is a difficult one and, to his credit, Mr. Fox remains firmly in character, even when the steadfastness of the character must be taken at face value. It's not easy dramatizing this degree of moral righteousness. Movies are ruthless when it comes to a performer's looks. They say more about a character than most actors have the ability to modify or deny. In ''Casualties of War,'' Mr. Fox has the terrible disadvantage of appearing to be lightweight. The two stars receive excellent support from Don Harvey and John C. Reilly, as the two members of the squad who follow Meserve with unquestioning enthusiasm, and John Leguizamo, as a young man who at first holds back but is intimidated into joining the group-action. This fellow's capitulation, which he rationalizes by putting intrasquad loyalty above all else, does as much to define the film's moral center as anything Mr. Fox's Eriksson says or does. The production, shot in Thailand, is rich and authentic in its physical details, which never overwhelm the movie's concerns. Mr. De Palma's love of the baroque, evident for better and worse in such films as ''The Fury,'' ''Body Double'' and ''Scarface,'' seems out of place here in the old- fashioned, fulsome soundtrack score by Ennio Morricone. It won't quit. Equally beside the point is one spectacular camera movement, something Hitchcock might have admired under other circumstances. In the second half of the film, the camera makes a long, unbroken sweep through an Army camp to find, at the end of its journey, Mr. Fox standing in mortal peril. The shot is sort of fun in itself, but it doesn't have much to do with what is supposed to be on the mind of the movie. In a Moral Void, Anything Goes CASUALTIES OF WAR, directed by Brian De Palma; screenplay by David Rabe, based on an article by Daniel Lang in the New Yorker; director of photography, Stephen H. Burum, edited by Bill Pankow; music by Ennio Morricone; production designer, Wolf Kroeger; produced by Art Linson; released by Columbia Pictures. At the Baronet, Third Avenue and 59th Street, and other theaters. Running time: 120 minutes. This film is rated R. Eriksson. Michael J. Fox Meserve. Sean Penn Clark. Don Harvey Hatcher. John C. Reilly Diaz. John Leguizamo. A-Ron’s Film Rewind Presents: The 30th Anniversary – Casualties Of War. A-Ron’s Film Rewind Presents: The 30th Anniversary Celebration Of Director Brian De Palma’s “Casualties Of War”. It Has Everything That’s Great About A De Palma Film. It’s Tough, Compelling, Visceral & Powerful. Michael J Fox Gives A Tour De Force Performance & The Best Of His Career. De Palma Looks At Vietnam Through A Different Perspective & It’s One Of His Finest Hours. Brian De Palma is a filmmaker known for following his own dark muse. Over the course of his four-decade filmmaking career, De Palma has turned out some of the industry’s most remembered, stylish and graphic films. De Palma’s films are populated with mind-boggling characters and twisty plots that leave moviegoers feeling slightly unhinged. De Palma has made a reputation for himself as a controversial filmmaker and his 1989 Vietnam war drama, “Casualties Of War” is one of his most controversial. Not for it’s depiction to the war itself, but what happens within a group of soldiers in the war. “Casualties Of War” is based on the Daniel Lang book of the same name, published in 1969 that is based on the real-life incident on Hill 192. After the book was published, Hollywood came knocking and set out to make a film adaptation. The film rights were bought by producer David Susskind (“A Raisin In The Sun”) who was going to bring the film to Warner Bros. Journalist Pete Hamill had written a script and British director Jack Clayton (Robert Redford’s “The Great Gatsby”) was set to direct. However the film was scrapped and in the late 1970s Susskind announced he would make the film for ABC-TV, which never happened. In 1979 screenwriter David Rabe (“The Firm”) mentioned the project to Brian De Palma, that it was being pushed around once again to being adapted into a feature film. Rabe who later had disassociated himself from the film, saying that De Palma was not faithful to his work, but actually his screenplay is one of the best things about the movie. De Palma, who was always interested in making the film since the books release in 1969, wanted to direct it but was unable to raise the money to finance it. Unable to make the film, De Palma went on to make not just one of his best, but one of the greatest films of all time “ The Untouchables” which was a big success; producer Dawn Steel was impressed by “The Untouchables”, that when she became head of production at Columbia Pictures, “ Casualties of War ” became a reality and was the first film she green-lit for the studio. Up until the production start of “Casualties Of War”, Vietnam War movies had been very profitable, from: “Platoon”, “Full Metal Jacket”, “Apocalypse Now” and “The Deer Hunter” . De Palma’s “Casualties Of War” which was his 19th film, wasn’t just a regular Vietnam war film. It carried a heavy subject matter, which is said to be the cause of it’s poor box office draw. Lang’s book and De Palma’s film revolves around a brutally shocking 1966 incident in which the leader of a five-man reconnaissance squad, Sgt. Tony Meserve tells his men, ‘We’re going to requisition a girl for a little portable R&R’. Three of the men laugh as it sounds like a joke, but Private Eriksson, who has been in Vietnam a month, knows it’s no joke and is bewildered at the idea. The men are leaving on a five-day reconnaissance patrol in search of Vietcong bunkers, trenches, caves and arms caches. The mission is dangerous but it’s also a chance for them to get away from authority. Before dawn under Sgt. Meserve’s instructions, they kidnap a young Vietnamese woman from a nearby village, gag her, bind her hands and take her with them into the highlands. In the course of the first two days, the entire squad, except for Private Eriksson rape her. When they are threatened with exposure, the men plan to murder her and bury her somewhere, leaving no trace that they were involved. When Eriksson gets back to the base, for reasons he cannot easily articulate and against the advice of his commissioned officers, Eriksson turns in his comrades. This is the bleeding heart of Brian De Palma’s earnest and hard to stomach plot of ”Casualties of War”. The cast here is terrific, including John C. Reilly (“Step Brothers”) and John Leguizamo (“The Pest”) who make their screen debuts in the film. Sean Penn plays Sgt. Meserve who gives another definitive Sean Penn performance. He plays Meserve with such raw, focused power that it is easy to see how a weak person would be intimidated by him. Meserve is foul mouthed and vile as the mastermind behind the rape of the young Vietnam girl. Sean Penn would tell Michael J Fox that he was just a little television actor and nothing more, to get a genuine reaction out of him in scenes. Michael J. Fox was already a household name by the time “Casualties Of War” had been released. Starring in his hit tv series “Family Ties” and lighter comedy fares like “Back To The Future”, “The Secret Of My Success” and “Teen Wolf”. Fox tried his hand in two dramas “Light Of Day” opposite Joan Jett and “Bright Lights Big City” playing a cocaine addict. His role as Eriksson in “Casualties Of War” is his edgiest and certainly his best dramatic performance. While most had associated him as the young republican with the snappy retorts on “Family Ties”. The role is a difficult one and to his credit, Fox remains firmly in character. It’s not easy to dramatize this degree of moral righteousness and Fox gives his best performance. When the actual moment of the gang rape arrives and Eriksson (Michael J Fox) refuses to go along. He tries, in a tentative and agonizing way, to argue that “this isn’t what it’s supposed to be about, over here”. Meserve (Sean Penn) lashes him verbally: He is not loyal to the group, he loves the Cong, he’s probably a queer, and so on. The whole stomach-churning sequence of scenes is harrowing because it makes it so clear how impotent Eriksson’s moral values are in the face of a rifle barrel. The other men either never had any qualms about what they are doing, or have lost them in the brutalizing process of combat. They will do exactly what they want to do, and Eriksson is essentially powerless to stop them. The movie makes it clear that when a group dynamic of this sort is at work, there is perhaps literally nothing that a “good” person can do to interrupt it. And its examination of the realities of the situation is one of the best things about the movie. The film was shot in April-May Of 1988, mostly on location in Thailand, with some filming in San Francisco. The railroad trestle bridge utilized in the firefight near the end of the film (located in Kanchanaburi, Thailand) is part of the Japanese transportation system as portrayed in the David Lean film “The Bridge on the River Kwai” (1957). This particular bridge was constructed by prisoners of war who were held captive by the Japanese when Thailand was under Japanese occupation during World War II. Because of filming in the jungle, there were a few obstacles as the sets were over run by snakes and Michael J. Fox would often buy gifts for the snake beaters who would beat the cobras out of the set. Also during filming many of the actors became sick, because their immune systems were not used to the food in Thailand. Michael J. Fox had later said that after recovering, his stomach was then strong enough to eat anything. “ Casualties of War ” opened in 1,487 theatres, and ranked number 4 in box office for the first week of its release. It went on to gross $18,671,317, making it a box office loss. The theatrical cut of the film was released on DVD in 2001. This version has the original 113 minute running time. An extended cut of the film was released on DVD in 2006, that contains two scenes cut from the original release. One has Eriksson being interrogated by the two investigators, and the other is the defense attorney (played by an uncredited Gregg Henry) trying to discredit Eriksson during the trial. This extended version has a running time of 119 minutes. “Casualties of War” has everything that’s great about a Brian De Palma film. It’s tough, compelling, visceral, powerful and a tour de force performance from both Michael J Fox and Sean Penn. DePalma looks at Vietnam through a different persepective than an audience is used to and it’s superb. One of De Palma’s finest hours.