Search - Casualties of War on DVD

MPAA Rating: R Content Advisory: Nudity, Rape & Sexual Abuse, Not For Children, Profanity, War Violence Movie Release: 1989 DVD Release: 12/11/2001 Format: DVD - Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV Edition: Dual Layered Audio Tracks: English, French, Spanish Subtitles: English, French, Korean, Spanish, Thai SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 1 hrs 54 mins Studio: Columbia TriStar Total Copies: 51 Genres: Drama, War, War Drama, Anti-War Film See Also: Casualties of War [Extended Cut], Casualites of War [UMD for PSP], Casualites of War [Blu-ray]

Casualties of War was based on a New Yorker article by Daniel Lang. This, in turn, was inspired by a true incident which illustrated the dehumanizing aspects of the Vietnam experience. Michael J. Fox plays Eriksson, a member of an American squadron stationed in the deepest jungles of Southeast Asia. Sean Penn co-stars as Meserve, the squadron sergeant, who vows revenge after his best friend is killed. He orders his men to invade a village and "requisition" a young Vietnamese girl (Thuy Thu Lee), who is repeatedly tied, gagged and gang-raped. The horrified Eriksson refuses to participate in these atrocities, and he does his best to console the girl and to attempt to free her. Before this can happen, however, Meserve orders another man to kill the girl. Once he returns to camp, Eriksson attempts to file a report on the tragedy and to bring Meserve and the others to justice, but he is stonewalled by the brass and threatened with death by his fellow soldiers. Eventually Meserve and his co-conspirators are jailed for their crimes, but Eriksson can never forget his "compliance" in the incident by failing to save the girl. The script is by well-known playwright David Rabe. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Michael J. Fox - Pfc. Eriksson
Sean Penn - Sgt. Meserve
Don Harvey - Clark
John C. Reilly - Hatcher
John Leguizamo - Diaz

Released at the tail-end of the Vietnam movie resurgence of the 1980s (Platoon, Rambo: First Blood II, Full Metal Jacket), director Brian De Palma's searing and emotionally wrenching morality play about a small band of American soldiers who kidnap, rape, then murder a young Vietnamese peasant girl, disappeared quickly from theater screens. Perhaps it was the unorthodox casting of television star Michael J. Fox as the soldier-with-a-conscience, or maybe the subject matter was just too dark, too emotionally painful to explore in a major American movie at the time. Whatever the answer, Casualties of War has arguably aged well and deserves a serious reappraisal. Columbia-TriStar Home Entertainment's DVD offers the film in a splendid new widescreen anamorphic transfer (2.35:1) and new English 5.1 Dolby Digital and two-channel Dolby Surround soundtracks. Previous VHS releases of the film have been grainy and never showcased Steven H. Burum's majestic and striking cinematography the way it should have been seen. This release does, on the other hand. Colors are rich and bold, and really add to the film's dramatic depth. The audio tracks are also excellent, especially during the battle sequences early on. The disc also contains an 18-minute documentary called "Eriksson's War," which takes a look at actor FOX's role and take on the film (like how Sean Penn never fraternized with FOX during the actual filming). Also included is a longer making-of documentary which contains interviews with the entire cast and crew, though sadly, actor Sean Penn is not one of them. The documentary is not great, but it does contain enough interesting anecdotes to be worthwhile. The disc also contains some deleted scenes, which don't really add anything to the film itself, but are nevertheless nice to have on the disc. The original theatrical trailer and production notes are also available. ~ Derek Hill, All Movie Guide