".."Having lived through Vietnam," De Palma observes, "you just can't believe America would get into this kind of situation again. It's inconceivable. And the architects of this war all worked in some phase of the government during Vietnam and yet here they are and it's all happening all over again. You just go, `How can this be?'"
For De Palma, the truly terrifying thing is the repetition, the fact America seems doomed to be living out its worst nightmares all over again, and that the lessons of history can go so perilously unheeded.
"I told that story in Casualties of War," he reminds you. "But when it happened again, I had to tell it again, because for me it's like a metaphor for these types of invasions and occupations we get ourselves into. You to go war under made-up pretences that you find out don't make any sense when you get there. You're in an extremely hostile environment that's nothing like you've seen back home. You're surrounded by a people who are speaking a different language and are so alien to your culture you can't get a handle on it. The only sense you can make out of it is, `I protect my brother's back and he protects mine.' You band together and that's the only sense you can make. You've got orders and you protect your brother soldiers."
For De Palma, this is a recipe for atrocity, especially when you stir in inexperienced kids who have enlisted out of poverty, ignorance or a misplaced sense of patriotic duty..."
The above is from the Toronto 'Red' Star. DePalma's other atrocity film, "Casualties of War" was another vile anti-American, anti-Military polemic starring Sean Penn. He hasn't improved with age. De Palma deserves much worse than a bad review, but nothing much happens to these people, probably because of all those kids with, "a misplaced sense of patriotic duty."
I had no idea DePalma did “Casualties of War.” Man...what a TERRIBLE movie! Penn was a cartoon character in that movie—easily one of the most pathetic, scenery-chewing roles I’ve ever seen. Way to go, DePalma.
Unfortunately, he’s also a pretty good director. The first “Mission: Impossible” was good, and the scene with Cruise sitting across from Voight, figuring out that Voight was the bad guy is one of my favorite scenes in any movie. Oh well.
What was the name of that horrible movie with Michael J. Fox where our soldiers raped and killed a young Vietnemese girl? That, to me, was just as disgusting.