Movie · 1989 · Drama, History, War · 1h 53m · R · English
Curator score: 7.1/10 (52.3K ratings)
Even in war… murder is murder.
Overview
During the Vietnam War, a soldier finds himself the outsider of his own squad when they unnecessarily kidnap a female villager.
Ratings
Curator score: 7.1/10
IMDb: 7.1/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 82%
Metacritic: 75
TMDB: 7.1/10
Director
Brian De Palma
Production
Columbia Pictures
Cast
Michael J. Fox, Sean Penn, Don Harvey, John C. Reilly, John Leguizamo, Thuy Thu Le, Erik King, Jack Gwaltney, Ving Rhames, Wendell Pierce, Sam Robards, Dan Martin, Dale Dye, Steve Larson, John Linton, Vyto Ruginis, Al Shannon, Maris Valainis, Darren E. Burrows, Sherman Howard
Where to watch
MGM Plus
Curator Review
Verdict
A bleak, forceful Vietnam War drama that uses a true atrocity to examine groupthink, masculinity, and the moral cost of witnessing evil. It’s harrowing rather than cathartic, but the performances and De Palma’s tense staging make it memorable and hard to shake.
Best for
viewers who want serious anti-war dramas
fans of morally complex true-story films
people interested in Brian De Palma outside his thrillers
audiences comfortable with disturbing subject matter
viewers drawn to courtroom-and-atrocity narratives
Skip if
you want an uplifting or action-forward war movie
you’re sensitive to sexual violence and wartime brutality
you prefer restrained, understated filmmaking
you’re looking for a broad ensemble war epic with battlefield spectacle
Overview
Casualties of War is one of the most punishing Vietnam films of its era, and it earns that severity. Rather than treating war as a backdrop for heroics, it zeroes in on the rot inside a squad, where macho loyalty becomes a mechanism for cruelty and silence. The result is less a combat movie than a moral nightmare about complicity, cowardice, and the failure to intervene.
Worth noting
Brian De Palma stages the story with a grim precision that keeps the viewer uncomfortably close to the violence without sensationalizing it. Michael J. Fox gives the film its conscience, while Sean Penn embodies the terrifying ease with which brutality can be normalized. The film’s courtroom framing and investigative structure sharpen its central question: what does it mean to witness evil when witnessing is not enough?
Bottom line
It is not an easy recommendation, and it is not meant to be. But for viewers who can handle its subject matter, it stands as a serious, unsparing anti-war film with real force and purpose. Its reputation is smaller than it should be, but its impact is not.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Patrick Willems (3.5★) · 532 likes
This is not a chill movie
matt lynch (4★) · 413 likes
"Oh, God. I'm sorry."
At one point the military defense attorney shouts that being a witness isn't hazardous but De Palma would beg to differ. He tantalizes us by recording the hidden tunnels, enemies in wait either hiding behind us or looking just like us, codes we can't interpret. But this is a recreation of a real evil, not the seduction of images, and some things cannot be resolved or reconstructed, and so in a way this doubles as his confession, one that forces you to watch her but makes it impossible for you to save her.
Neil Bahadur (4.5★) · 299 likes
I don't know if I have the words yet...brief early thoughts - it's far more a film about America than Vietnam (but it's De Palma, so of course), and what strikes the most right now is how 'war' doesn't necessarily turn people into monsters, but rather amplify the monstrosity which already exists - these monstrosites which are the child of masculinist codes: the first thing which Fox states after the "Oh god...I'm sorry," is an almost intelligibly mumbled "..my friends..."… more I don't know if I have the words yet...brief early thoughts - it's far more a film about America than Vietnam (but it's De Palma, so of course), and what strikes the most right now is how 'war' doesn't necessarily turn people into monsters, but rather amplify the monstrosity which already exists - these monstrosites which are the child of masculinist codes: the first thing which Fox states after the "Oh god...I'm sorry," is an almost intelligibly mumbled "..my friends..."… more
Neil Bahadur (4★) · 207 likes
It'll be interesting to see how exactly the New Hollywood figures age in the years to come, and even if I personally prefer a Spielberg or a Lucas, in a way De Palma provides the best foundation for critical reappraisal, because he's the only one of that group who was openly politically conscious. At the same time, and even with Casualties of War's occasional speechifying, it hones into one of the core keys to De Palma's work - which is… more It'll be interesting to see how exactly the New Hollywood figures age in the years to come, and even if I personally prefer a Spielberg or a Lucas, in a way De Palma provides the best foundation for critical reappraisal, because he's the only one of that group who was openly politically conscious. At the same time, and even with Casualties of War's occasional speechifying, it hones into one of the core keys to De Palma's work - which is… more
Josh Lewis (4★) · 184 likes
"This kinda thing could cause an international incident."
Brutally interrogates the act of watching/witnessing as both a failure of action and yet also a moral imperative.
Full discussion on episode 53 of my podcast SLEAZOIDS.