The “difficult” film that still brings Brian De Palma to tears: “It’s a very sad movie”
Brian De Palma’s Casualties of War is a tough watch, even for those involved in making it.
The 1989 war film stars Michael J Fox, Sean Penn, Don Harvey, John C Reilly, John Leguizamo, and Thuy Thu Le, and is based on accounts of true events from the Vietnam War.
Like many other war movies, Casualties of War examines some brutal realities, particularly the behaviour of soldiers amid armed conflict, and what kind of individual morality and loyalty a situation demands. De Palma’s entry into the genre follows a squad of five American soldiers who kidnap a Vietnamese girl from a nearby village and gang-rape her, with only one member of the group voicing his opposition. Max Eriksson (Fox) vigorously pursues justice for the girl after she is killed, a difficult task when few people care and the guilty men threaten his life.
Casualties of War might not be the most talked-about film in Brian De Palma’s catalogue, but it stands out as one of his more emotionally grounded and mature efforts. While it didn’t exactly set the box office alight, it offers a powerful, unsettling look at the Vietnam War – bolstered by a solid cast and a raw dive into the moral messiness of violence.
The narrative revolves around Eriksson as the conflicted protagonist, with Penn taking the form of his ideological opponent, the sergeant who leads the squad and is the most terrifying of them. When the great Roger Ebert favourably reviewed Casualties of War, he stated, “More than most films, it depends on the strength of its performances for its effect—and especially on Penn’s performance. If he is not able to convince us of his power, his rage and his contempt for the life of the girl, the movie would not work. He does, in a performance of overwhelming, brutal power.” It actually calls to mind his characterisation in the now near-universally praised One Battle After Another, though this character’s fundamental insecurities are more vital.
Funnelling the story into the conflict between these two individuals makes sense from a structuring perspective. Interestingly, De Palma also revealed in an interview that Penn treated Fox with hostility during filming.
“Treated him like he was kryptonite,” says the director, “Michael’s a very amiable guy. Sean would have nothing to do with him. So this came to a head when Michael J Fox [now meaning his character] comes after him [Penn’s character] with that shovel. We rehearsed that scene a couple of times. Sean would taunt him, and then we’d cut and we’d try it again, and Sean would taunt him some more. And then suddenly in one of the takes, he literally knocked him to the ground. And Michael J Fox got up with a look in his eye that could kill, and that’s the shot that’s in the film.”
“It was a very difficult movie to get made,” De Palma continues, crediting Fox’s popularity with making it possible. But the more impactful thing from this interview is how clear it is that De Palma is deeply affected by the story he was telling. Breaking down while he is speaking, De Palma says, “It’s a very sad movie. I can’t listen to that score…and it’s difficult for me to watch.”
It makes the actors’ rivalry seem like a very petty thing, though it has been said in interviews that it was an intentional technique on Penn’s part to make the conflict between the characters more authentic. But it hopefully isn’t what people take away from Casualties of War, which depicts the tragedy of another person’s life being horrifically ripped away.
